The Justice Department on Sunday requested that a federal judge consider contempt charges against an immigrant rights group after it published an analysis challenging government claims about noncitizen voters. The department defended a list it compiled of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California, arguing that the analysis released by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) violated a court order.
The dispute follows a Friday ruling by U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg, who granted CHIRLA access to the federal data. Boasberg ordered the group not to disclose names from the list and specified the data should only be used to argue whether they had legal standing to challenge the Trump administration's use of the information. On Saturday, CHIRLA filed papers stating its analysis found that over 40% of the names on the government's list do not appear in California's voter file.
The Justice Department argued in a Sunday filing that the group's report was irrelevant to the question of legal standing and constituted a violation of the judge's instructions. In response, Alberto Lammers of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which conducted the analysis, stated that the group and its experts fully complied with all court orders. The administration maintains its list was carefully compiled from state registration data and federal citizenship records.
What happens next depends on several court actions scheduled for early November 2026. Judge Boasberg must decide whether to refer the immigrant rights group for a criminal contempt investigation as requested by the Justice Department. Separately, U.S. District Court Judge Trina L. Thompson has scheduled a hearing for Monday, November 2, 2026, regarding a Justice Department appeal of her order that barred the government from demanding the removal of suspected noncitizens or the separation of their ballots. These rulings will determine the final handling of disputed registrations.