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A California judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out most operations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked

Polygraph verdictTrue
Sources
5 support
Said
1 time·
Confidence
88%
Deadline: White HouseOct 22, 2026
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A federal judge in California (Araceli Martínez-Olguín) blocked most DHS election-related field operations in the nine listed states, as several tier-1 outlets report. The ruling covers election-related field operations and interviews rather than all DHS operations, and it was put on hold until Friday to allow an appeal, which the claim does not mention.

The host relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.

What was said

… elections, we're facing critical tests of whether or not our democracy and our election systems will be strong enough, resilient enough, to resist his brazen public attempts at election interference in the midterms, which are less than two weeks away. Now, yesterday, a California judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out most operations in nine states. They include California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin, allegedly aimed at uncovering the highly, highly rare phenomenon of non-citizen voting. In a scathing opinion, the judge writes this, quote: "The operation empowers federal officials to target and interview individuals who DHS believes to have engaged in …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. AP reports a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to halt noncitizen voting investigations in nine states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.[1]

Supports. The Hill and the Padilla press release report the judge barred DHS from conducting elections-related field operations and interviews in the nine states, with the ruling issued on Wednesday, October 21.[3][4]

Supports. Reuters reports a federal judge largely halted DHS field operations in nine states on October 21, and NPR describes the same limits on pre-election field operations.[2][5]

Context. The claim's phrase 'most operations' is broader than the sources' 'most election-related field operations'; the post itself uses the same wording, so the extraction is faithful. The ruling was also stayed until Friday for appeal, which does not change the state of affairs on the claim's date.[1][4]

Sources

5 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 1 tier 1, 1 tier 2

  1. 1Judge orders Trump administration to halt noncitizen voting ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
  2. 2Trump expands hunt for noncitizen voters with broad subpoena campaign before midtermsreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
  3. 3Federal Judge Cites Whistleblower in Case Blocking DHS ...padilla.senate.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
  4. 4Federal judge blocks DHS voter fraud field operations in 9 statesthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports, context
  5. 5Judge restricts DHS field operations for noncitizen voters - NPRnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports

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