In a move to combat alleged voter fraud, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is set to spend up to $5 million on creating a national voter database. The initiative, part of a broader effort by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to undermine trust in upcoming midterm elections, aims to gather publicly available voter registration and history data from all 50 states, despite privacy concerns.

The contract, initially revealed in a document last week, will enable ICE to access voter registration files for federal elections. However, experts warn that including party affiliation data could violate voter privacy, a right enshrined in U.S. law.

ICE's plan is just one piece in a larger strategy by DHS to monitor and potentially challenge voters. The agency has already pushed states to comply with its investigations, threatened to withhold funding, and even targeted suspected illegal voters for deportation. Critics, like Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, argue that these actions are unnecessary and politically motivated.

Previous attempts by ICE to access voter data have faced resistance from states and courts. Most recently, in July, ICE sought access to Thomson Reuters' CLEAR database, which combines various personal and public records, including voter registration.

Despite ICE's efforts, the reality of non-citizen voter fraud remains extremely rare, with investigations finding very few cases. Critics fear that the creation of a national voter database could further erode trust in the electoral process.