Department of Justice

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said he will dismiss the Trump Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking Oregon’s unredacted voter rolls and will issue a written opinion, marking a second federal‑court rebuff after an earlier California ruling. The decision, part of the DOJ’s multi‑state effort that has sued at least 23 states and D.C., drew praise from Oregon AG Dan Rayfield—who said federal voting laws cannot be used as a “backdoor” to obtain dates of birth, driver’s‑license numbers and partial Social Security numbers—and has prompted criticism, including over a related letter to Minnesota officials seen by critics as a coercive bid for detailed voter data.

The Justice Department has scrapped its long-running community "Peacemaker" office. Separately, the Defense Department has told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes to eliminate so-called "woke" distractions, while Minnesota judges continue to reject arrest warrants tied to ICE protests.

A federal judge, David O. Carter, dismissed the Justice Department’s bid to obtain California’s full, unredacted voter file for some 23 million voters—including names, driver’s‑license numbers and partial Social Security numbers—calling the request “unprecedented and illegal” and saying the administration may not unilaterally usurp authority over elections. Carter framed the lawsuit as part of a broader effort to build a national voter roll through similar suits in roughly two dozen states, warned that erosion of privacy and voting rights must be addressed by Congress not the executive, and California officials vowed to continue defending voters amid concerns about sharing data with DHS/USCIS.

DHS and USCIS have launched Operation PARRIS (Post‑Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening), begun in mid‑December to reexamine roughly 5,600 refugees in Minnesota from 39 “countries of concern” named in Trump travel‑ban proclamations by conducting onsite reinterviews, background checks and document verification to determine whether refugee status should be maintained, revoked, or referred to ICE. The operation is tied to a sprawling Minnesota fraud probe into daycare, Medicaid and social‑services billing that federal officials say has produced dozens of criminal charges and convictions; DHS is also reviewing naturalization cases involving migrants from 19 countries for possible denaturalization, and the DOJ and some lawmakers have signaled further enforcement and legislative action.

Senior Minnesota federal prosecutors, including First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, were fired by the Department of Justice after a dispute over how to handle the federal probe into the shooting of an ICE officer; Thompson reportedly favored treating the incident as an assault/obstruction on a federal officer and opposed investigating the officer’s widow and possible co‑conspirators. Their removal also takes a lead off a major Minnesota welfare‑fraud investigation tied to alleged Somali‑run nonprofit schemes, prompting DOJ to send additional prosecutors and federal agents while Treasury and IRS units probe money‑movement and tax irregularities — a surge that Minnesota officials have criticized as politically driven and harmful to public trust.