Lawsuit: Indiana AG Rokita, Diego Morales sue DHS for failing to verify citizenship of 550,00+ voters

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for allegedly failing to verify the citizenship status of more than 550,000 state voters.

The lawsuit, which was filed on April 16 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, cites several federal statutes related to the “obligation” DHS has to ensure that only individuals with American citizenship can lawfully participate in federal and local elections.

What does the lawsuit say?

The lawsuit accuses DHS of failing to confirm whether certain individuals were registered to vote in Indiana after Rokita and Morales alleged that some voters had reportedly registered without proper state IDs.

On Oct. 11, 2024, Morales and Rokita petitioned then-United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou to use the agency’s Person Centric Query Service to verify the citizenship of 585,774 individuals found on Indiana’s voter registration roll. At the time, Morales and Rokita wanted this to be completed before the November general election.

The lawsuit also accuses DHS of violating a federal statute requiring the agency to respond to state inquiries related to the citizenship status of prospective voters.

The lawsuit alleges that Jaddou never submitted a response. Rokita followed up by signing a letter alongside 15 other state attorneys general on Oct. 14, 2024, expressing concerns about “delayed and inadequate responses.”

Rokita and Morales said the lack of a USCIS response has caused their respective offices to be unable to “verify the citizenship of many individuals on Indiana’s voter rolls or to respond to requests from local officials to confirm that specific individuals registered to vote are citizens.”

“Because USCIS refused to satisfy multiple requests from other states that were materially identical to the October 11 request, Secretary Morales and Attorney General Rokita have concluded that USCIS has chosen to deny their request and disregard its statutory obligations to verify citizenship status,” the lawsuit reads.

According to the lawsuit, Rokita and Morales are seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction compelling DHS to provide verification information of certain registered voters and to “refrain from interfering with the production of that information.”

The entire lawsuit can be viewed online here.

Reactions

Rokita described the lawsuit as an “important step” in the process of ensuring Indiana elections are conducted without any further interference at the federal level.

“Following the Biden administration’s obstruction here, I expect that President Trump’s team will resolve this matter,” Rokita said. “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.”  

Secretary of State Morales’ complete statement can be viewed below:

“As Indiana’s Chief Election Officer, ensuring the integrity of our elections is non-negotiable. This legal action is a continuation of our efforts for Indiana to lead the way in election integrity. Since we never received a response from the Biden administration, we know that under President Trump’s leadership and based on his recent Executive Order, there’s a stronger commitment to the election process. Hoosiers deserve nothing less than full confidence in the security of their vote,” said Diego Morales, Indiana Secretary of State. 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.”

As of this article’s publication, DHS has not responded to the lawsuit.