Pennsylvania Settles Voter Roll Lawsuit with Judicial Watch


 

Upon receiving the [April 22, 2021] letter, the Secretary [of the Commonwealth] immediately took action by investigating the issues raised and working with the identified 27 counties to remove outstanding inactive voters who had failed to return a confirmation notice and did not participate in the subsequent two consecutive federal elections. With the Secretary’s assistance, the counties removed every single inactive voter eligible for removal from the rolls. The total inactive voters removed was 178,258.

• eight full-time employees (FTEs) positions;
• 28 “3161s,” which are temporary direct-hires that are commonly referred to as “3161” after the governing
• federal law, 5 U.S. Code § 3161
• three “detailees;”
• two “fellows;”
• one Intergovernmental Personnel Act “IPA” position and
• three “contractor” positions.

The scandals keep piling up for the federal agency charged with caring for the mobs of illegal immigrant minors—Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC)—that enter the country through the southern border. It is known as the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and operates under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The latest transgression involves the agency’s failure to fully vet workers and contractors who care for the young migrants. It comes on the heels of a congressional hearing to address reports that show ORR lost contact with more than 85,000 UAC in the past two years and that two-thirds of all UAC who leave the agency’s care work illegal, full-time jobs, often in factories and in hazardous conditions.

A couple of years ago Judicial Watch obtained records from HHS documenting 33 incidents of physical and sexual abuse during a one-month period at shelters where the government houses UAC until they are relocated with a sponsor. Months earlier, the agency got slammed in a federal audit for failing to protect UAC from sexual misconduct at the facilities. During a six-month period alone, investigators from the HHS Inspector General’s office uncovered more than 750 incidents involving sexual misconduct at dozens of shelters housing minor detainees. The investigation was launched because ORR-funded facilities for years reported allegations of sexual and physical abuse of minors in their care, some resulting in criminal convictions. For example, in one case a facility employee was convicted of sexually abusing seven UAC and in another an employee was convicted of attempting to coerce a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity and exchanging explicit videos and images with others.

During the Obama administration, when the UAC influx was at its peak, ORR placed many of the underage migrants in abusive homes. Some were forced to become prostitutes or personal slaves, according to a shocking Senate investigation that ignited bipartisan fury at the time. It was ironic because the Obama administration claimed it was rescuing UAC from “persistent violence in Central America” only to make their lives worse in the U.S. Some of the illegal immigrant youngsters ended up with human traffickers while others were exploited for their labor and dozens were sexually assaulted, starved or forced to work as practical slaves. In one case six Guatemalan minors were placed with human traffickers that forced them to live in a decrepit trailer and work 12 hours a day on egg farms in the rural Ohio town of Marion. Another Guatemalan boy was forced to work 12 hours a day for his Virginia sponsor to repay a $6,500 smuggling debt and a boy from El Salvador was released to his abusive father even though the kid told authorities the father had a history of beating him.

Years later serious problems persist at ORR, which funds and oversees dozens of state-licensed care facilities to harbor young migrants when they arrive in the U.S. In fiscal year 2021 ORR provided shelter for an unprecedented 122,731 UAC, according to government figures, and this fiscal year the Department of Homeland Security has referred 128,904 UAC to ORR. Most of the migrants are over 14 years of age and 64% are boys. The majority (47%) come from Guatemala, followed by Honduras (29%), El Salvador (13%) and 11% from other countries. As of May 2, 2023, there are 8,492 unaccompanied children in ORR care and the average length of time a UAC remains in government custody is 29 days. “ORR is working to further reduce length of care in ways that do not jeopardize the safety or welfare of the children,” the agency writes in the document with the latest figures. It continues. “The important work happening in each of the facilities and programs in the ORR network around the country – work ORR has done successfully since 2003 – takes an experienced team of competent, hardworking men and women dedicated to the welfare of the children.”

The reality is that ORR is endangering the migrant kids by failing to properly vet employees who work with them, according to a new HHS IG investigation. A report issued this month blasts the agency for not conducting or documenting all required background checks and for failing to complete others in a timely manner. “In addition, ORR did not require the transportation services contractor we reviewed to conduct background checks on employees as required by ORR minimum standards,” the watchdog writes in its recently published findings. Investigators considered several facilities and conducted site visits during a two-month period. They found that ORR was not consistent with issuing waivers for FBI fingerprint checks and child abuse and neglect checks of employees at emergency intake sites, that public records checks used by the sites may not have been reliable and that several sites did not ensure secure facility access. Several employee background checks “included offenses that may have made the employee unsuitable to work with children in a childcare setting,” the IG found.

Cleaning up dirty voter rolls is not easy or quick work. Exhibit A: Colorado.

Nearly three years ago, Judicial Watch filed a federal lawsuit in Colorado after gathering evidence that the state was a serial offender in failing to comply with the voter list maintenance requirements of the National Voter Registration Act. Why does this matter? The possibility of ineligible voters at the ballot box creates opportunities for fraud and corruption. As JW President Tom Fitton puts it: “Cleaner voter rolls mean cleaner elections.”

The JW lawsuit noted that studies had shown that a majority of Colorado counties had voter registration rates exceeding 100% of the eligible voting-age population. Think about that for a moment: dozens of Colorado counties were showing the presence of more voters than voting-eligible residents actually residing in the county! Federal data also showed that Colorado was lagging in the process of removing ineligible voter registrations.

According to the JW lawsuit, the voter registration rates and processing issues indicated “an ongoing, systemic problem with Colorado’s voter list maintenance efforts” that injured lawfully registered voters by “undermining their confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, discouraging their participation in the democratic process, and instilling in them the fear that their legitimate votes will be nullified or diluted.”

In March, the Colorado Secretary of State settled the case—a major victory for Judicial Watch, but more importantly, for Colorado voters. Even before the settlement, JW pressure had resulted in a 78% increase of Colorado voter roll removals, from roughly 172,000 to 306,000 per reporting period.

The key element of the Colorado settlement: for the next six years, the state will annually report to Judicial Watch on its progress in cleaning up voter rolls.

But dirty voter rolls are not the only election-integrity issue in Colorado. Last month, we reported on a Judicial Watch white paper on ERIC, the left-leaning Electronic Registration Information Center. Colorado is a member of ERIC. We found plenty of reasons for concern about ERIC, including ineffective voter-roll cleanup and sketchy data sharing practices. The Judicial Watch white paper warned that ERIC data sharing could be in violation of several federal statutes, including the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, which regulates how Department of Motor Vehicle data can be shared.

In fact, DMV data sharing between ERIC and Colorado has landed the state in hot water. In October, Colorado Public Radio reported that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold had mailed postcards to about 30,000 non-citizens notifying them how they could register to vote. By law, non-citizens are not permitted to vote in state and local elections.

According to the public radio report, “the problem occurred when the state compared a list of potential unregistered voters from a multi-state group [that is, ERIC] Colorado belongs to, with local DMV records. The DMV data included people who hold non-citizen driver’s licenses—which were created to allow people without legal residency to drive legally—but a formatting error caused the system not to flag them as ineligible.”

The public radio report noted that “the postcards, which were printed in English and Spanish and read in part, ‘A message from Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’ inform the recipient ‘Our records indicate that you or your household may be eligible to vote, but do not appear to be registered at your current address.’”

We’ll be watching Colorado closely in the months and years ahead. You won’t read much about voter roll reform in the national press, but you can read all about it here at Judicial Watch. Nationwide, action by Judicial Watch has resulted in important electoral reforms and the removal of two million names from voter rolls over the past two years.

Stay tuned. There’s more to come.

With the busy summer season approaching for air travel, the Biden administration is once again compromising aviation security by plucking Federal Air Marshals (FAM) from their congressionally mandated duty of protecting the nation’s transportation system to help on the Mexican border. The highly skilled law enforcement agents will not be performing work related to their training, but rather babysitting illegal immigrants, conducting welfare checks, hospital watch and transportation services, according to Homeland Security sources interviewed by Judicial Watch. “They are disgusted,” said Sonya Hightower-LaBosco, a retired FAM who serves as executive director of the Air Marshal National Council. “They feel for their brothers and sisters in the Border Patrol, but this is not what they train for, and it leaves a big void in aviation safety.”

The assignments to the southern border begin this week, according to a memorandum circulated among FAM staff and shared with Judicial Watch. It says that all field offices will increase their deployment personnel beginning at the end of May through June 17 and that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requesting 175 air marshals plus seven supervisors per “wave,” an increase of 26% “per wave.” That seems to indicate the deployment cycles’ substantial hike in officers from previous border assignments. A separate memo from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) supervisor to agency field operation managers says the “can-do approach by your folks in supporting this important mission is recognized and appreciated.” No mention of how it will compromise the “important mission” of protecting the flying public, especially during peak summer travel.

FAM operates under the beleaguered Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was created after 9/11 to prevent another terrorist attack. Air marshals are charged with protecting commercial passenger flights by deterring and countering the risk of terrorist activity and officers, specially trained aviation security specialists, are outraged that they are being sent to the southern border again. Back in October Judicial Watch reported on the first deployment of FAM to the Mexican border to assist with “a surge in irregular migration.” Officers were pulled from their critical duty of protecting commercial planes flagged for terrorist threats to conduct hospital watch, entry control, welfare checks and transportation services for migrants. A few months later, under pressure from the Air Marshal National Council, the Biden administration stopped sending FAM to the Mexican border, a reckless practice that left aircraft at risk by taking away 150-200 agents monthly, according to DHS sources.

The controversial program’s reinstatement could not come at a worse time, on the heels of credible terrorist threats as airports get busier for summer travel. Al Qaeda recently announced it is planning attacks in the U.S., possibly involving planes and using “new techniques and tactics” and FBI Director Christopher Wray has told Congress that both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State intend to carry out or inspire largescale attacks in the U.S. Even without the Mexican border assignments, the agency is spread thin, according to the Air Marshal National Council, which fired off a letter this week to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and TSA Director Tirrell Stevenson requesting the border missions stop immediately to thwart another 9/11. “FAMs barley cover 1% of flights as it stands today, and the current workforce is depleted with no clear path on hiring additional resources,” the letter states. Ordering FAM to the southern border will “make our homeland security even more vulnerable to attack,” and further deteriorate the morale of the workforce, the letter continues. Afterall, during their most recent stint along the Mexican border, the specialized law enforcement agents mostly made sandwiches for illegal immigrants, drove them around like Uber and picked up supplies, Hightower-LaBosco told Judicial Watch.