Federal judges block Trump administration noncitizen voter investigations

Federal judges in California have blocked parts of the Trump administration's effort to investigate noncitizen voting. One judge stopped a Department of Homeland Security programme that sent immigration agents to question people about their voter eligibility in nine states. The judge said this could frighten eligible voters and break voting rights law. A second judge refused to remove around 20,000 mail ballots that the government claimed were sent to noncitizens. He questioned whether the government's methods for identifying noncitizens were accurate. The administration has appealed one ruling and may bring more lawsuits in other states. Researchers say noncitizen voting is very rare in American elections. Courts have now blocked several of the administration's attempts to restrict voting access through these investigations.