DHS Email Fuels New Questions About Midterm Election Plans

An internal Department of Homeland Security email is raising fresh questions about the Trump administration’s election-related activities, after it surfaced that DHS personnel circulated a 78-page list of jurisdictions offering ballots in non-English languages alongside a Justice Department checklist for prosecuting voter-related crimes, NPR reported.

The heavily redacted email, dated Dec. 19, 2025, was obtained by the Democratic National Committee through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and subsequently shared with NPR. It shows the multilingual jurisdiction list was attached to a DOJ “Criminal Checklist outlining requirements for prosecution of voter related charges” — a pairing that Democrats and voting-rights advocates say suggests the administration may be targeting communities that use non-English election materials.

Context

The disclosure lands as the administration intensifies its pursuit of noncitizen voting, which repeated audits have found to be extremely rare. The administration has surged resources to investigate the issue, pressured Congress to tighten voter eligibility rules, and at times suggested federal agents could appear at polling locations — moves that have alarmed civil rights groups and election officials ahead of the November 2026 midterms.

Federal law, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, prohibits armed federal officers from being stationed at polling locations except in narrow circumstances. Despite that prohibition, contradictory public statements from senior officials have stoked uncertainty among voters.

Key Developments

The email was sent from DHS’s acting director of border policy, whose name is redacted, to Rob Law, the undersecretary for strategy, policy and plans. Recipients included officials from that office and Heather Honey, who leads the administration’s efforts to root out noncitizen voting.

Nothing in the document alludes to actual enforcement activity at the listed locations, and it remains unclear why the list was attached. A DHS court filing defending its redactions described the email as a “subordinate sharing initial thoughts and opinions with leadership.”

The underlying list draws on Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires jurisdictions where more than 5% of voting-age citizens primarily speak a language other than English to provide election materials in that language. That information is public.

When asked about the document, a DHS spokesperson said anyone who votes illegally should not be able to “use a purported lack of knowledge” of English to avoid prosecution, adding that DHS and DOJ are “laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens.” DHS also said it “is not planning operations targeting polling locations.”

The revelation follows a broader pattern of federal scrutiny. In January 2026, FBI agents entered the Fulton County election hub in Georgia and seized roughly 650 boxes of 2020 election records, while a DOJ lawsuit sought unredacted Georgia voter data after the state’s Republican secretary of state declined to provide it voluntarily, as The Current GA reported. Localized follow-ups from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution identified several Georgia counties on the DHS list, including Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb.

Federal authorities have also recently charged multiple individuals with alleged illegal voting, and DOJ announced charges against seven noncitizens in one Texas case, per a DOJ press release.

Analysis & Implications

Dan Freeman, the DNC’s litigation director and a former DOJ Voting Section attorney, said the pairing of the language list with a prosecution checklist is difficult to read as coincidental.

“The very simple connection that I logically drew is that they’re targeting [these jurisdictions],” Freeman said. “We are hoping to learn more. But right now, the logical inference that I think anyone would make is that they are thinking about prosecution of federal election crimes in jurisdictions where elections are conducted in a language other than English.”

The concern is not merely theoretical. Roughly 40% of voters now believe it is likely ICE agents will be present at voting locations in their area, including about a third or more of Democrats, Republicans and independents, according to University of California San Diego polling reported by NPR. The same survey found voters of color were significantly more likely than white voters to fear that voting could put them at risk of being questioned by immigration authorities — despite being U.S. citizens.

Voting officials warn that perception alone can suppress turnout. “What they’re trying to do is put it out there to discourage people from voting, to create an atmosphere of fear, and it creates a chilling effect on the democratic process,” said Paul López, the top voting official in Denver and a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to keep federal agents away from the polls.

Denver appears on the DHS list of multilingual jurisdictions; close to a third of the city’s population is Hispanic or Latino. López said he remained confident because federal law is on his side. “It is illegal for folks to be targeted on the basis of their language,” he said. “My message to voters is, ‘Don’t let these thugs scare you. Don’t let them intimidate you. You’re not going to be bullied and we’re not going to be intimidated.’”

The fear has translated into legal action. Civil rights coalitions have filed a wave of lawsuits seeking to bar DHS from deploying federal officers to polling sites. The newest was filed Friday, Sept. 18, as NPR reported, following an earlier LULAC-led suit. The administration has pushed back, with a DOJ spokesperson calling suggestions of federal agents at polls “fearmongering,” while FBI Director Kash Patel said agents would only go where a violation had occurred. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said ICE could serve warrants at polling places, even as officials maintain agents will not patrol them.

Advocates in immigrant communities say the mixed messaging has real consequences. “The threat of immigration enforcement at polling sites exacerbates all of those barriers to voting that already exist,” said Anar Parik of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. Gigi Pedraza of the nonpartisan Latino Community Fund in Georgia added that government should encourage participation rather than make voting “look like it’s something that can put them in harm’s way.”

What’s Next

The DNC continues to litigate for additional records, meaning further disclosures could follow. Meanwhile, the lawsuits over potential federal presence at the polls are moving through the courts, and the administration’s voter-integrity push shows no sign of slowing as November approaches.

The central question — whether the multilingual jurisdiction list reflects genuine investigative interest or a warning aimed at communities that vote in languages other than English — remains unresolved. What is clear is that the email has added a new layer of scrutiny to an election season already defined by disputes over who gets to vote, and how, in 2026.