Washington, Sep 21 (IANS) Two Democratic senators in the US have asked California’s attorney general to investigate allegations that US immigration officers impersonated voters to access sensitive state records during a federal search for people suspected of voting illegally.
Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff urged California Attorney General Rob Bonta to examine whether activities described by a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower violated state law.
The allegations concern an effort called the “Unlawful Voter Initiative” within US Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a statement issued by Padilla’s office.
The senators said officers from USCIS’ Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate were directed to use personal information held by the government to enter California’s voter-registration website.
“Of particular interest to Californians are the claims that USCIS personnel were directed to misrepresent themselves on California’s voter registration site to access voter data,” the senators wrote.
“California’s voter registration website is clearly intended for the use of voters themselves, and requires the use of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) to access this voter data, including driver’s license number and/or partial Social Security Number,” they said.
The whistleblower alleged that USCIS officers were given information about thousands of California residents and told to determine whether they were “unlawful voters.”
The senators said the people examined could include US citizens, particularly naturalised Americans. They warned that inaccurate findings could lead to the creation of erroneous federal law-enforcement records.
According to the disclosure, USCIS personnel faced quotas requiring them to investigate 40 people each day. That would provide about 12 minutes to examine each case.
The whistleblower also alleged that officers were required to rely on data of uncertain origin that had been supplemented through a process described in agency material as “supplemental magic.”
“The fact that the DHS data was compiled with something called ‘supplemental magic’ does not provide reassurance,” Padilla and Schiff wrote.
The senators said the Justice Department had been unsuccessful in an attempt to compel California to provide voter information to the Trump administration. That raised questions about how DHS obtained the information used for its investigation, they said.
“As you know, the U.S. Department of Justice has been unsuccessful in its attempt to compel California to provide its voter information to the Trump Administration, raising serious questions about what this data is, how DHS obtained it, and whether they complied with the law in collecting and using this data,” they wrote.
The disclosure claimed that officers were told to create records in a federal law-enforcement system known as TECS even when they had reason to question the underlying information.
It warned that potentially thousands or tens of thousands of California residents could receive such records based on unreliable or uncorroborated information.
The senators asked Bonta to review the disclosure, determine whether California law was violated and consider measures to protect voters’ personal information.
“Considering California’s strong protections surrounding the use of voter registration information and PII, we believe this Disclosure merits a review by your office to determine what actions are necessary and appropriate to protect California voters,” they wrote.
“Especially as agency leaders dismissed concerns raised by the Whistleblower and other officers about the legality of this conduct, instructing them to move forward with the searches anyway, we want to ensure that you have all available information necessary to investigate these allegations to the extent your office deems appropriate,” they added.
The claims in the protected whistleblower disclosure remain allegations. The senators’ request asks California authorities to investigate the conduct and determine whether the state’s privacy and voter-information laws were breached.
Padilla and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer previously asked DHS and USCIS to halt the initiative. They also joined 16 Democratic senators in requesting an independent investigation by the DHS inspector general, making the California referral part of a broader congressional effort to examine the programme before the 2026 midterm elections.
–IANS
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