2026年10月21日 美国东部时间早上6:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：玛德琳·梅 调查制片人
玛德琳·梅是哥伦比亚广播公司新闻驻华盛顿特区的调查制片人。她此前曾为VICE新闻报道政治新闻，并为国际调查记者联盟（OCCRP）报道有组织犯罪与腐败议题。她的报道领域包括民主威胁、虚假信息、政治暴力与极端主义。
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哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的一项调查发现，美国国土安全部身着制服、携带武器的联邦特工近日在多个州上门询问居民的移民身份，并询问他们是否已登记投票或在过往选举中投过票。
此次行动是中期选举前排查潜在非公民选民行动的一部分。国土安全部声称可能有多达25万公民非法登记投票，但选举专家对这一数据的准确性提出了质疑。根据美国司法部的数据，自特朗普政府执政以来，仅有156人因与投票欺诈相关的罪名被起诉。美国目前登记在册的选民人数为2.27亿。
批评人士表示，派遣武装联邦特工前往美国居民家中，可能会对合法选民造成恐吓。
“我们如今看到的是联邦政府以前所未有的方式介入各州的选民名册核验程序，”杰西卡·马斯登说道，她是倡导组织“保护民主”的律师，该组织正就此次上门行动起诉联邦机构。“他们采取的方式似乎最大程度上意在恐吓合法选民放弃投票。”
上门走访行动在9月升级，正值中期选举竞选活动的关键时期，并在过去的周末仍在持续。美国司法部周一宣布，国土安全部特工在加利福尼亚州逮捕了20余人，均为绿卡持有者，罪名是他们非法登记投票或参与投票。
在此次抓捕行动中，数十名联邦特工突袭了一名72岁伯利兹裔男子的住所，他身着睡衣被从家中带走，并被控在过去四届选举中非法投票。
“国土安全调查局（HSI）正积极排查并调查所有可追查的选举欺诈行为，”国土安全部一名发言人表示。“在特朗普总统任期内，国土安全调查局致力于恢复我们选举系统的公信力，确保只有美国公民才能选举美国领导人。”
前国土安全调查局特工埃里克·巴利特表示，此次上门行动与传统执法活动大相径庭。
“在我为国土安全调查局工作的23年里，我从未参与过，也从未听说过有任何主动行动派遣特别探员前往私人住宅核实选民资格，”曾在多届政府下供职于联邦政府的巴利特说道。
今年6月，国土安全部指示美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）协助驱逐被指为非公民选民的人员。负责上门走访的国土安全调查局是ICE的执法分支之一，通常专注于儿童剥削、毒品走私和洗钱等跨境刑事调查。
据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻查阅的内部文件显示，该公告发布数月后，数百名特工被从原办案任务中抽调，参与追踪被指为非公民选民的“突击”行动。这一最先由CNN报道的指令，描述了一项“刑事选民欺诈”行动，包括在加利福尼亚州、佐治亚州、密苏里州、宾夕法尼亚州、华盛顿州和威斯康星州至少六个州开展“实地核查”。
X平台上发布的照片和视频显示，国土安全调查局的特工——其中部分人携带枪支——上门敲门，配文如“美国选举属于美国公民”。
堪萨斯城国土安全调查局账号发布的一张照片显示，四名特工站在一户人家门口，一名女子牵着孩子的手站在门廊上。
美国司法部新闻稿将该女子身份确认为玛丽安娜·亚历山德拉·杜威，一名秘鲁国民，她被控四项与投票欺诈相关的罪名，包括在2024年大选中非法投票。她的案件尚未开庭审理。她的律师拒绝就哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的置评请求作出回应。
对于民权倡导者而言，这种武力展示引发了人们对其可能产生的寒蝉效应的担忧。
“这向更广泛的群体传递了一个信号：不要前往投票站，不要投票，”埃默里大学非裔美国人研究教授卡罗尔·安德森博士说道。
“因此，如果你是已登记投票的归化公民，你在社区中看到的情况是——因为这个政权不会做出区分——你会远离投票箱。”
一名国土安全部发言人表示：“国土安全部和司法部正集中精力起诉和驱逐参与投票的外籍人士，防止美国公民的选票被稀释……那些合法留在美国且未违反其他法律的人没有什么可担心的。”
“目标名单”
在一段视频中，特工手持一份写有“目标名单”的文件。
一位熟悉该行动、要求匿名的国土安全调查局特工表示，这份名单范围广泛。国土安全部从内部数据库、选民名册和其他数据集提取信息，随后尝试将姓名与美国公民及移民服务局（USCIS）提供的公民身份数据进行比对。
今年9月，一名美国公民及移民服务局举报人表示，工作人员被要求审查全美数万人的选民信息，其中包括公民。工作人员被设定了每天调查40个对象的配额，相当于每个对象仅约12分钟的处理时间。
国土安全部为数据匹配项目以及美国公民及移民服务局识别潜在非公民选民的工作进行了辩护。
“这些调查工作绝非仓促或未经培训，而是勤勉且专业地开展的，”一名国土安全部发言人说道。“不存在犯罪配额。国土安全部将依法追究每一名非法选民的全部责任。”
“有充分理由预计这些名单中存在大量假阳性结果，”马斯登说道。
她指出，国土安全部官员最初曾表示在内华达州的选民名册中识别出近1.6万名非公民，但最终无法提供任何一例非法登记选民的证据。
Federal agents knock on doors to track down possible noncitizen voters ahead of midterms
October 21, 2026 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News
By Madeleine May Investigative Producer
Madeleine May is an investigative producer at CBS News based in Washington, D.C. She previously covered politics for VICE News and reported on organized crime and corruption for OCCRP. She covers threats to democracy, disinformation, political violence, and extremism.
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Armed and in uniform, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been knocking on doors in several states to ask residents about their immigration status — and to inquire if they have registered to vote or cast votes in past elections, a CBS News Investigation has found.
The operation is part of an effort to root out potential noncitizen voters ahead of the midterms. DHS has alleged that there could be as many as 250,000 citizens illegally registered to vote, although election experts have disputed the accuracy of this figure. Just 156 people have been charged with voting-fraud related offenses since the beginning of the Trump administration, according to the Department of Justice. There are 227 million registered voters in the U.S.
Critics say that sending armed federal agents to the doors of U.S. residents could be intimidating for legal voters.
“What we’re seeing now is the federal government is inserting itself into the state process for verifying their voter roles in an unprecedented way,” said Jessica Marsden, a lawyer for Protect Democracy, a left-leaning advocacy group that is suing the federal agency over the door-knocking campaign. “And they are doing it in a way that seems maximally designed to scare lawful voters from participating.”
Photos posted by HSI NorCal of Homeland Security agents knocking on doors in the San Francisco area. X/@HSINorCal
The home visits ramped up in September, in the thick of the midterm campaign season, and continued over the past weekend. The Justice Department announced Monday that Homeland Security agents in California arrested more than 20 people, all of them green card holders, on allegations they had illegally registered or cast a vote.
As part of that roundup, dozens of federal agents descended on the residence of a 72-year-old man from Belize, who was taken from his home in his pajamas and arrested on charges he allegedly voted illegally in the past four elections.
“HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found,” said a DHS spokesperson. “Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.”
Eric Balliet, a former Homeland Security Investigations agent, said the door-knocking operation is a significant departure from traditional law enforcement activities.
“In my 23 years with HSI, I never engaged in or was aware of any incident of initiative that sent Special Agents to private residences to verify the eligibility of voters,”Balliet said, who served in the federal government under multiple administrations.
In June, the DHS directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to assist in deportations of alleged noncitizen voters. Homeland Security Investigations, the agency conducting the at-home visits, is one of the enforcement arms of ICE and typically focuses on criminal cross border investigations like child exploitation, drug smuggling and money laundering.
Months later after the announcement, hundreds of agents were pulled off their cases and assigned to track down alleged noncitizen voters as part of a “surge” initiative, according to internal documents reviewed by CBS News. The directive, first reported by CNN, describes a “Criminal Voter Fraud ” initiative that includes “field reviews” in at least six states including California, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
Photos and videos posted on X show agents from Homeland Security Investigations, some of whom are carrying firearms, approaching houses and knocking on doors, under captions like, “AMERICAN ELECTIONS ARE FOR AMERICANS.”
One photo from Kansas City HSI’s account shows four agents at the door of a woman standing on her porch holding a child’s hand.
Homeland Security agents making an arrest in the Kansas City area. X/@HSIKansasCity
The woman is identified in a Department of Justice press release as Mariana Alexandra Dewey, a Peruvian national who was charged with four counts of voter-fraud related crimes including illegally casting a ballot in the 2024 election. Her case has not yet been heard. Her lawyer declined to respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
For civil rights advocates, the show of force has sparked concerns about the chilling effect it could have on legal voters.
“It is sending the signal to a much broader community, do not show up at the polls. Do not vote,” said Dr. Carol Anderson, a professor of African American Studies at Emory University.
“And so if you are somebody who has registered to vote and you’re a naturalized citizen, what you see in that community is that — because this is not a regime that makes those discernments — that you’re gonna stay away from the voting booth.”
A DHS spokesperson said, “DHS and DOJ are laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens… Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”
“Target List”
In one video, agents are filmed holding a document that says, “Target List.”
That list can be far reaching, said a HSI agent familiar with the initiative who asked to speak anonymously. DHS pulls from internal databases, voter rolls, and other datasets. Then employees attempt to match names against citizenship data provided by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS.
In September, a USCIS whistleblower said that employees were asked to review the voter information of tens of thousands of individuals across the country, including citizens. Employees were given quotas to investigate 40 subjects a day, which is a rate of roughly 12 minutes per subject.
DHS has defended the data matching program and the work USCIS has done to identify potential noncitizen voters.
“Far from being rushed or untrained, these investigative efforts are conducted diligently and professionally,” said a DHS spokesperson. “There is no quota on criminality. DHS will pursue each and every illegal voter to the fullest extent of the law .”
“There’s every reason to expect that there are many, many more false positives in these lists,” said Marsden.
She noted that Homeland Security officials initially said they had identified nearly 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter rolls, but ultimately they were unable to provide evidence of a single illegally registered voter.