A federal judge in California has blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from carrying out election-related interviews and field operations aimed at people agents know or suspect are U.S. citizens in nine states, with the restrictions running through Election Day.

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From The Epoch Times:

The judge, who serves in the Northern District of California, found that nursing unions were likely to succeed on their claim that federal enforcement actions violated the Voting Rights Act’s protections against intimidation involving voter assistance and mobilization. She stayed the order until 5 p.m. Oct. 23, with the restrictions extending through Election Day, Nov. 3.

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“During the Surge, the agents were ordered to complete a minimum of 40 suspected subject reviews, which requires officers to take no more than twelve minutes to eliminate a person from the target list using the commercial databases,” the judge wrote. The time limitations implemented during the Surge “further exacerbate the risk of error,” she said.

The judge questioned the reliability of the list of people suspected of unlawful voter registration or voting, saying, “Even under the best conditions, there is a high likelihood of error in review because there is no federal database containing citizenship status of U.S. residents.”

The order from U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín applies to California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin. Those are the nine states where DHS had concentrated an enforcement surge targeting noncitizen voting. The case was brought by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and the Voto Latino Foundation. The Justice Department had not commented on the ruling by press time. The administration has until Friday afternoon to seek relief from a higher court before the order takes effect.

The ruling comes as federal officials pursue a separate fight in California. On Oct. 15, the Justice Department sued to require the state to set aside ballots returned by more than 20,000 registered voters whom federal investigators flagged as “likely noncitizens” until their citizenship can be verified. Homeland Security Investigations said it built the list from publicly available voter registration records. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said California was given 48 hours to review the names and identify any citizens, and prosecutors said the state refused. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded in a letter that the federal government had not provided evidence supporting its claim about the 20,000 names. Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of trying to disenfranchise voters.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, two goals are colliding: keeping illegal votes out of federal elections and protecting citizens from wrongful targeting. Both matter. Every ballot cast by a noncitizen cancels out the vote of a citizen, and every citizen wrongly treated as a suspect has reason to lose trust in the process. Accurate data is what makes both possible.

Let’s pray for Judge Martínez-Olguín and any appellate judges who take up this case, that they would rule with wisdom and faithfulness to the law. Let’s pray for DHS and Justice Department officials, that their efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls would be accurate, lawful, and effective. Let’s pray that the truth about the 20,000 California names would come to light before ballots are counted, and that state and federal officials would set aside politics to verify the facts. Above all, let’s pray that only the lawful votes of American citizens would decide the Nov. 3 elections, and that the nation could trust the results.

Share your prayers for honest, secure elections in the comments.

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: photobyphotoboy via Canva Business)