Senator Welch Blasts DOJ’s Harmeet Dhillon for Weaponizing Voter Data Collection to Suppress Votes

Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, has delivered a blistering rebuke of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s leadership of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. In a letter this week, Welch condemned Dhillon’s aggressive push to collect vast amounts of sensitive and private voter information from states, warning that this campaign threatens to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters just as the 2026 midterm elections approach.

Welch’s criticism zeroes in on a new policy directive issued by Dhillon soon after her confirmation. The directive instructs the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section to assist the Department of Homeland Security in obtaining full access to state voter rolls, including Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and dates of birth. This unprecedented demand has been met with widespread resistance: states led by both Republicans and Democrats have refused to comply, citing privacy violations and legal concerns. To date, the DOJ has filed lawsuits against 30 states plus the District of Columbia, but every court to review these cases has dismissed the DOJ’s claims.

The senator highlights two critical issues with this data grab. First, the DOJ lacks the statutory authority to request or collect this information. Second, far from safeguarding elections, these efforts risk undermining them. DOJ attorneys plan to cross-check voter rolls against DHS’s SAVE database—a system known to falsely flag noncitizens at a rate of at least 14 percent—putting legitimate voters at risk of wrongful removal from the rolls.

Welch further calls out Dhillon for perpetuating false narratives to justify these actions. Despite overwhelming evidence debunking widespread non-citizen voting, Dhillon claimed the Division found “tens of thousands of non-citizens on the voter rolls.” Welch points to a Michigan audit that found just 0.00028 percent of voters in the 2024 election were noncitizens, underscoring the baselessness of Dhillon’s assertion.

The letter also condemns Dhillon’s recent demand for ballots from Detroit’s 2024 election, based on discredited allegations of fraud from the 2020 election. A judge previously dismissed those claims as “not credible,” yet the DOJ under Dhillon continues to pursue them, further eroding trust in electoral processes.

Senator Welch demands transparency, seeking details on what contractors the DOJ has shared voter data with, any communications with outside groups, and evidence supporting Dhillon’s claims. He also questions the Division’s enforcement of controversial executive orders and its broader shift away from its traditional mission of protecting voting rights.

This confrontation is part of a growing pattern under Dhillon’s tenure, where the Civil Rights Division has been repurposed to advance political agendas rather than defend civil rights. Earlier this year, Welch criticized the creation of a new “Second Amendment Section” within the Division as a stark departure from its historic role.

In sum, Welch’s letter exposes how the DOJ under Dhillon is weaponizing the Civil Rights Division to sow doubt about elections, compromise voter privacy, and potentially disenfranchise millions—actions that strike at the very heart of American democracy.

Read the full letter from Senator Welch here.