Who’s Really Fighting the DOJ’s California Noncitizen List?

California Democrats have spent months insisting the state’s elections are free and fair. But progressive groups that spend heavily on Democrat voter outreach walked into a Los Angeles courtroom this month almost as soon as the Department of Justice sued the state over a list of more than 20,000 names it says are likely noncitizens. 

The legal fight this month started with the DOJ requesting California to set aside 20,000 ballots it believes are likely tied to noncitizens. Despite 28 federal charges last week, Clinton-appointed Judge David O. Carter denied the DOJ’s expedited request on Wednesday evening, with a handful of outside groups tied to Democrats and progressives having joined the case.

“Our elections are safe and secure. Yet the federal government is continuing its efforts to put up barriers to the ballot box by spreading misinformation and relying on faulty and unreliable data to disenfranchise voters,” Campaign Legal Center’s vice president for voting rights and rule of law Danielle Lang wrote on Oct. 16.  “We’re moving to join this case to ensure that all eligible voters can make their voices heard in the 2026 midterm elections.”

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which describes itself as a “nonpartisan legal organization,” is co-counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the NAACP in the case, along with Democracy Defenders Fund (founded by Norman Eisen), the NAACP’s Office of General Counsel, and Altshuler Berzon LLP. 

Both LULAC and the NAACP, along with its California/Hawaii State Conference and the Los Angeles Branch, intervened on Oct. 16, a day after Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) and Mi Familia en Acción filed their own motion. Common Cause filed as an amicus.

The groups that have joined the case have long records of registering and mobilizing immigrant, Latino, and Black voters in California, typically within communities that lean heavily Democrat. 

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The Intervenors

SIREN, a California-based immigrant rights organization with offices in the Bay Area and Central Valley, intervened on Oct. 15 along with Mi Familia en Acción. 

Represented by lead counsel Elias Law Group, which has described its mission as helping “Democrats win,” citizens vote, and advancing progressive priorities, SIREN has received grants from Heising-Simons and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Notably, the Elias Law Group has intervened in all 22 of the DOJ’s state voter-data lawsuits filed since September 2025.

According to their website, SIREN’s mission is to “empower low-income immigrants and refugees through community education and organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy, civic engagement and legal services.”

Its stated vision is a “new America where immigrants and refugees” are “valued, integrated, and seen as essential to our society, and where the human rights of all persons are protected and honored.”

Financial filings show SIREN has received progressive foundation grants and a notable share of government funding. The Heising-Simons Foundation, a major Democrat-aligned family foundation founded by Liz Simons and Mark Heising, gave SIREN $150,000 in 2023. 

The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Human Rights program has funded groups including United We Dream, Mijente, Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigration Law Center, according to Inside Philanthropy. The foundation has described its immigration work as aimed at shrinking and dismantling “punitive systems.”

Along with the Heising-Simons Foundation, SIREN has received grants from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the country. The foundation gave SIREN $207,500 in 2022 for “civil participation” and $227,000 for “human services” in 2024. 

Silicon Valley Community Foundation has also directed millions to the Voter Registration Project, which has worked to register Blacks, Latinos, unmarried women, and young people with the stated goal of reshaping the electorate, according to InfluenceWatch. 

The Sobrato Family Foundation, a Silicon Valley real-estate family foundation, has also given SIREN multiple grants, including $184,500 in 2023 and $125,000 in 2024. 

Government grants accounted for roughly half of SIREN’s 2024 revenue, including a $60,000 grant from Santa Clara County that year for legal services, policy advocacy, and workshops. 

But Mi Familia en Acción has received far larger progressive grants, heavily focused on voter registration and mobilization. 

The Bigger Checkbook

Mi Familia en Acción, also known as Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, is the 501(c)(3) arm of the organization. The group is also being represented by Elias Law Group. 

Operating in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas, the group describes their organization as one that “unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice through citizenship workshops, voter registration, and voter participation,” according to their website.

While it describes its work as nonpartisan civic engagement—including voter registration, citizenship workshops, and education—the entity has received large progressive foundation grants. Filings show its 2024 revenue hit roughly $10.5 million.

Between 2020 and 2024, the 501(c)(3) received nearly $6 million from the Voter Registration Project alone, including a $2.6 million grant in 2024 specifically for voter registration. The Voter Registration Project, also known as the Everybody Votes Campaign, is a progressive-aligned voter registration effort that has received millions from Open Society Foundations and other left-leaning donors. 

The 501(c)(3) has also taken funding from the Tides Foundation, the New Venture Fund, the Democracy Fund, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society. Government grants show the 501(c)(3) was given $309,391 in 2023 and $416,806 in 2024, according to Intellispect. 

In addition to the 501(c)(3), there is a 501(c)(4) related entity known as Mi Familia Vota, which is not bound by the same nonpartisan restriction and does more direct advocacy. According to its site, its goals include building “Latino political power” through expanding the electorate, supporting key alliances, and increasing public support. 

In 2024, the 501(c)(4)’s reported revenue was an estimated $4.4 million, with larger recorded funders including America Votes and Future Forward USA Action.

America Votes, which is a progressive 501(c)(4), coordinates get-out-the-vote and advocacy work for Democratic-aligned groups. Founded by Democratic operatives including Ellen Malcolm of EMILY’s List, a progressive political organization, it has received large grants from Open Society entities. 

As for Future Forward USA Action, it is known as the dark-money arm of the largest Democratic super PAC of the 2024 cycle, spending heavily on ads supporting former Vice President Kamala Harris and receiving funding from Open Society as well. 

Notably the president and CEO of both the 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) is Héctor Sánchez Barba, who previously served as executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and as chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. 

Barba also sits on the national board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and chairs Planned Parenthood Global. During former President Joe Biden’s administration, he publicly advocated that the administration should staff at least 20% of its position with Latinos, arguing the Latino voter base had been decisive in key 2020 states. 

In October, Mi Familia Vota joined LULAC, UnidosUS Action Fund, and Latino Victory in a $22.1 million “Vamos a Votar” coalition to invest in registering, informing and mobilizing Latino voters ahead of Election Day. It comes just months after they announced a joint aim at contacting more than 5 million Latino voters and registering 250,000 new voters, with significant work planned in California. 

That same network is now in the Los Angeles courtroom.

The Oldest Group in the Room

LULAC, which is represented in the courtroom by CLC, is one of the oldest Latino civil rights groups in the country. 

Notably, the CLC was founded in 2002 by Trevor Potter, a former Republican FEC commissioner. Although it describes itself as nonpartisan, like Mi Familia en Acción, its major funders in recent years have included progressive and left-leaning groups. 

For example, more than $1 million from 2016-2020 was given to the CLC by the Foundation to Promote Open Society, the Democracy Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation, according to InfluenceWatch. 

In practice, CLC’s voting-rights litigation has frequently aligned with Democratic priorities, including challenges to voter-ID laws, signature-match rules, and other measures that progressives argue suppress minority turnout. 

LULAC’s national 501(c)(4) is relatively small on paper, with their 2024 Form 990 showing roughly $1.22 million in revenue and $1.6 million in expenses. However, its charitable arm, the LULAC Institute (501(c)(3), is larger as it hit about $2.8 million for their 2024 revenue, with their expenses at around $4.72 million. 

Between 2019 to 2024, the 501(c)(3) entity received roughly $6 million from 46 funders. 

Filings show progressive, left-leaning funders of the LULAC Institute include the Tides Foundation, donating $450,000 across 2020-2024, with the Ford Motor Company Fund giving $934,000 during the same stretch of time. 

The Coca-Cola Foundation, according to filings, has given $715,000 across 2020-2023, along with Share Our Strength giving $500,000 between 2020-2021. Notably, the National Education Association has been linked to the 501(c)(3), as it has given $75,000 between 2022 to 2024. 

Financial support for LULAC also includes the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the California Endowment, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, according to InfluenceWatch.

Since Carter’s denial of the DOJ’s expedited request, the federal government has since appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court. The intervening groups remain in the case as it moves forward.