The US Justice Department on Sunday defended a list of more than 20,000 people it alleges are noncitizens registered to vote in California, accusing an immigrant rights group of violating a court order by questioning the list's accuracy.
PBS News reported on Sunday that the dispute follows a Friday ruling by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg, who granted the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) access to the federal data while prohibiting the disclosure of names and restricting its use to arguments concerning the group's legal standing.
In the US, noncitizens generally cannot vote in federal or state elections, including California state elections.
However, San Francisco allows eligible noncitizen parents and legal guardians of children in the city's public school system to vote in local school board elections under a city ordinance. This means that the presence of a noncitizen on a voter registration list does not, by itself, establish that the person registered illegally.
In court filings Saturday, CHIRLA's attorneys said their analysis found that more than 40% of the people on the federal list did not appear in California's voter registration records.
They also identified 22 people who were likely naturalized US citizens and said the list included thousands of other people who appeared to be US citizens.
The Justice Department argued Sunday that the analysis violated Boasberg's order because it was unrelated to the group's legal standing. It also suggested referring the matter for an investigation into possible criminal contempt of court.
"The report's political grandstanding about alleged inaccuracies that purportedly impact California voters generally, or comparisons between the government's list and the full 'California voter file,' has no relevance to whether the particular plaintiffs in this case have standing," the department said.
