{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-schiff-padilla-to-ag-bonta-investigate-shocking-whistleblower-disclosure-alleging-alarming-dhs-activities-in-california/", "NEWS: Schiff, Padilla to AG Bonta: Investigate Shocking Whistleblower Disclosure Alleging Alarming DHS Activities in California", "2026-09-21", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Adam B. Schiff", "S001150", "www.schiff.senate.gov", "schiff", "https://www.schiff.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Allegations made by DHS Whistleblower could have far-reaching impacts on eligible California voters and lawfully present noncitizens\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.), in a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, flagged concerning activities detailed in a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower disclosure and requested that Bonta investigate whether those actions may have violated California law.\n\nIn their letter to Bonta, the Senators highlighted the whistleblower\u2019s allegations that DHS is directing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) officers to impersonate voters in violation of state laws to access online voter data as a part of its \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative,\u201d an effort aimed at manufacturing evidence for President Trump\u2019s unfounded claims of widespread noncitizen voter fraud.\n\nThe Senators emphasized the potential impacts these actions could have on eligible California voters, including naturalized citizens, such as the creation of erroneous federal law enforcement records known as \u201cTECS records,\u201d especially given the reckless performance quotas of 40 subjects per day being demanded by DHS and the required usage of unreliable source data compiled with so-called \u201csupplemental magic.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf particular interest to Californians are the claims that USCIS personnel were directed to misrepresent themselves on California\u2019s voter registration site to access voter data,\u201d wrote the Senators. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s voter registration website is clearly intended for the use of voters themselves, and requires the use of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) to access this voter data, including driver\u2019s license number and/or partial Social Security Number. As outlined in the USCIS training materials provided by this whistleblower, USCIS officers were directed to enter this information, obtained from other DHS data, in order to access the voter data on California\u2019s voter website.\u201d\n\nThe Senators emphasized that USCIS personnel were provided with thousands of Californians\u2019 sensitive records and data to investigate if they were \u201cunlawful voters.\u201d They further emphasized California\u2019s strong protections regarding voter information and raised concerns about how the information was obtained by the Trump Administration.\n\n\u201cAs you know, the U.S. Department of Justice has been unsuccessful in its attempt to compel California to provide its voter information to the Trump Administration, raising serious questions about what this data is, how DHS obtained it, and whether they complied with the law in collecting and using this data,\u201d continued the Senators. \u201cThe fact that the DHS data was compiled with something called \u2018supplemental magic\u2019 does not provide reassurance.\u201d\n\nThe Senators urged Bonta to review the whistleblower disclosure and determine measures to protect Californians\u2019 voter data. They also urged an investigation into the whistleblower\u2019s allegations.\n\n\u201cConsidering California\u2019s strong protections surrounding the use of voter registration information and PII, we believe this Disclosure merits a review by your office to determine what actions are necessary and appropriate to protect California voters,\u201dconcluded the Senators. \u201cEspecially as agency leaders dismissed concerns raised by the Whistleblower and other officers about the legality of this conduct, instructing them to move forward with the searches anyway, we want to ensure that you have all available information necessary to investigate these allegations to the extent your office deems appropriate.\u201d\n\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below:\n\nDear Attorney General Bonta:\n\nThank you for your leadership in standing up for the rule of law against President Trump and his Administration\u2019s efforts to interfere with the voting rights of the more than 23 million eligible Californians who are registered to vote.\n\nWe are writing to make you aware of a September 8, 2026, protected whistleblower disclosure (the \u201cDisclosure\u201d) that reveals serious allegations of illegal and inappropriate activities within the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s (\u201cDHS\u201d or \u201cthe Department\u201d) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (\u201cUSCIS\u201d) Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (\u201cFDNS\u201d). These allegations raise the very serious concern that U.S. citizens could be wrongfully flagged as \u201cunlawful voters,\u201d and also indicate potential violations of California state law, including federal officers impersonating California voters to access their state voting records.\n\nAccording to the attached Disclosure, the Department and USCIS leadership have abruptly diverted FDNS personnel to an \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d using highly questionable data and methods to identify purported unlawful voters. DHS and USCIS training materials admit these investigations will include U.S. citizens, some of whom will have federal law enforcement records created against them based on questionable data and rushed reviews by officers held to quotas. The whistleblower\u2019s Disclosure includes compelling evidence of wrongdoing by agency leadership including:\n\n(1) USCIS personnel have been directed to access sensitive voter information in violation of state laws prohibiting unauthorized access to individual voter records;\n\n(2) USCIS personnel are under significant pressure from headquarters to enter federal TECS records against individuals that are likely to be false, potentially harming thousands of people in likely violation of federal privacy requirements;\n\n(3) With minimal training, agency leadership is imposing reckless quotas that demand USCIS personnel investigate 40 subjects per day, a rate of roughly 12 minutes per subject, with leadership tracking their output in an attempt to complete this rushed investigation by September 12; and\n\n(4) DHS is providing USCIS personnel with DHS data of dubious origin, including voter data, which they are required to accept as accurate despite the admission that the data has been augmented with \u201csupplemental magic.\u201d\n\nThe Trump Administration appears to be undertaking this rushed effort to find \u2013 or manufacture \u2013 evidence for its baseless election conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Inaccurate claims of \u201cunlawful voters\u201d and erroneous federal law enforcement records can result in serious consequences for Californians, including many naturalized citizens. The Trump Administration may also use these claims to further threaten state and local election officials in California and undermine or challenge the election results themselves.\n\nOf particular interest to Californians are the claims that USCIS personnel were directed to misrepresent themselves on California\u2019s voter registration site to access voter data. California\u2019s voter registration website is clearly intended for the use of voters themselves, and requires the use of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) to access this voter data, including driver\u2019s license number and/or partial Social Security Number. As outlined in the USCIS training materials provided by this whistleblower, USCIS officers were directed to enter this information, obtained from other DHS data, in order to access the voter data on California\u2019s voter website.\n\nIn addition, this whistleblower Disclosure reveals that FDNS officers were provided with thousands of Californians\u2019 information to investigate whether they were \u201cunlawful voters.\u201d The ultimate source of the data used for this target list is unknown, but the training materials state \u201c[t]his public voter file for California was passed to us by [DHS].\u201d As you know, the U.S. Department of Justice has been unsuccessful in its attempt to compel California to provide its voter information to the Trump Administration, raising serious questions about what this data is, how DHS obtained it, and whether they complied with the law in collecting and using this data. The fact that the DHS data was compiled with something called \u201csupplemental magic\u201d does not provide reassurance.\n\nThe Disclosure further claims that agency leadership knew that this data was unreliable, yet FDNS officers were directed to create federal law enforcement records (known as \u201cTECS\u201d records) against individuals, many of whom are U.S. citizens. In fact, \u201c[o]fficers are specifically told to rely on the data DHS provided for California and use the voter registration dates and voting dates provided in that data to indicate that the subject may be an unlawful voter and create a TECS record.\u201d According to the Disclosure, \u201ca significant number of TECS records, potentially thousands or tens of thousands, will be created against California residents based on data that an officer may have good reason to believe is unreliable or inaccurate without corroboration.\u201d This is especially concerning since the agency\u2019s own training materials admit that there are \u201ca lot of U.S. citizens\u201d in the data.\n\nConsidering California\u2019s strong protections surrounding the use of voter registration information and PII, we believe this Disclosure merits a review by your office to determine what actions are necessary and appropriate to protect California voters. Especially as agency leaders dismissed concerns raised by the Whistleblower and other officers about the legality of this conduct, instructing them to move forward with the searches anyway, we want to ensure that you have all available information necessary to investigate these allegations to the extent your office deems appropriate.\n\nAgain, we appreciate your efforts to stand up to the Trump Administration\u2019s repeated attempts to intrude on states like California\u2019s authority to administer their elections and protect the right to vote.\n\nThank you for giving this important matter all due consideration.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-22T09:42:49Z", "2026-09-22T09:44:35Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-schiff-padilla-to-ag-bonta-investigate-shocking-whistleblower-disclosure-alleging-alarming-dhs-activities-in-california/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5786730218678713, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}