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Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with the Indiana officials alleging the federal agency has failed to help verify the citizenship status of voters who registered in Indiana without providing state-issued forms of identification.
Rokita and Morales filed the lawsuit April 16 in Indiana’s Southern District Court.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is USCIS’ parent federal agency, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are named as defendants in the suit, which seeks injunctive and declaratory relief.
DHS did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment Monday.
In a news release, Rokita alleged that, despite first receiving Indiana’s written requests last October, federal officials have failed to provide information that would enable Indiana to verify that only eligible voters participated in elections.
“Following the Biden administration’s obstruction here, I expect that President Trump’s team will resolve this matter,” Rokita said in the release. “This lawsuit is another important step in ensuring the integrity of our elections. Hoosiers have a right to know that legitimate ballots are not being diluted by noncitizens. I promised that I would get citizenship information from USICS, and that is exactly what I am doing by filing this suit.”
Last year, Rokita and Morales sent then-USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou lists of certain voters who registered without state IDs — along with a joint letter formally requesting the agency’s assistance in verifying those individuals’ citizenship status. No response ever came.
The Indiana officials requested federal aid in scrutinizing the citizenship status of more than 585,000 registered Hoosier voters — more than one in 10 residents on the voter rolls.
The list of 585,774 includes those who registered without an Indiana driver’s license number or a social security number — or who live overseas.
Indiana had 4,836,973 residents registered to vote, so the letter invited scrutiny of about 12% on the rolls.
Federal law requires USCIS to respond to inquiries from state government agencies “to verify or ascertain the citizenship or immigration status of any individual within the jurisdiction of the agency for any purpose authorized by law,” according to the news release from Rokita’s office.
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