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WASHINGTON, DC — The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) filed suit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from placing armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inside polling places during the Nov. 3 midterm elections. LULAC is the lead plaintiff in the case, League of United Latin American Citizens v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.
"LULAC was founded in 1929 by Americans who understood that citizenship means nothing without the ballot, and we have defended that principle for 97 years without regard to party," said Roman Palomares, LULAC national president and chairman of the board. "The question before the court is not about immigration. It is whether the federal government may post armed officers between a citizen and the voting booth. Congress answered that question in 1865, and the answer was no. Our vote is our voice, and LULAC will not stand by while any administration, of any party, tests whether that voice can be quieted."
Joining LULAC as co-plaintiffs are Common Cause, a nonpartisan voting rights organization with more than 1.5 million members nationwide; UnidosUS, a leading Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization with a network of more than 300 community-based affiliates across the country; and the City and County of Denver, Colorado, a local government responsible for administering elections for hundreds of thousands of voters. Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that litigates against unlawful government action, and the Public Rights Project, a nonprofit legal group that partners with state and local governments to defend residents' civil rights, represent the plaintiffs.
"This policy does its damage before a single officer walks through the door," said Juan Proaño, LULAC chief executive officer. "When a grandmother who has voted for 40 years, a naturalized citizen casting her first ballot, or a young man whose parents lack status hears that ICE may be waiting at the polls, many of them will stay home. That is the chilling effect, and it falls hardest on Latino families in mixed-status households. Every credible audit, including reviews conducted by state election officials of both parties, has found voting by noncitizens to be exceedingly rare. There is no problem here that armed agents can solve, only eligible voters they can frighten away."
The lawsuit targets a policy Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed Sept. 1, when he stated that ICE officers may enter voting locations to serve warrants and carry out other immigration enforcement. LULAC contends the policy violates a federal statute enacted in the closing months of the Civil War, more than 150 years ago, that bars the government from stationing armed federal personnel at any place where an election is being held, except to repel an armed enemy of the United States. The complaint also argues the policy is arbitrary and capricious under federal administrative law.
"Do not let fear do the work of a policy we are fighting to strike down," Palomares said. "Confirm your registration today. Make a plan to vote early if your state allows it. Know your rights, and if you see anyone attempting to intimidate voters at a polling place, report it immediately. Then do the one thing no one can take from an eligible voter: show up and cast your ballot. LULAC councils in communities across the country will be there with you."
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