Good morning, it's Thursday, Oct. 8. Internal Homeland Security reports show the department spent months looking into the nonprofit groups that help Americans register to vote, and even weighed sending undercover agents.

Also in today's issue: A $70,000 student work fee, 70 million kids' accounts, Diesel relief falls short.

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If you've ever signed up to vote at a folding table outside a church, a campus or a union hall, the people behind that table may have been on a federal list.

Internal reports from the Department of Homeland Security, released Wednesday, show the department reviewed more than 150 nonprofit groups that help Americans register to vote. It pulled in nearly 100 million records. And it considered sending undercover agents to approach groups it suspected of signing up noncitizens.

The midterms are four weeks away, and early voting has already started in many states.

In one state, investigators combed through about 41 of these groups. What they found says a lot about this effort.

The May and June reports come from Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. A legal group, Democracy Forward, got them through a public records request.

Investigators reviewed 82 groups in Pennsylvania alone, plus groups in Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey and Ohio. The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, was flagged for more digging. Education Minnesota, a teachers union, found out on Tuesday that it was one of 22 groups being researched.

About 50.6 million records came from the Justice Department. Another 48.4 million came from Heather Honey, a DHS official who first drew attention by denying President Trump's 2020 loss. The reports say she got them from "independent sources." They never say which ones.

The administration's case deserves a fair hearing. Only citizens should vote. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said noncitizens who vote will be arrested and deported. If fraud happens at scale, groups that register thousands of people are a logical place to check.

But here's the thing about scale. Noncitizen voting is rare, study after study finds. The Justice Department indicted 10 noncitizens for voting in late September. About 154 million people voted in 2024, according to Census data.

So what did the New Jersey review find? "No derogatory information" on any of the roughly 41 groups. A check of 20 nonprofit funds tied to a Washington foundation found nothing either. And the records show no undercover operation actually took place.

That's the tension. Looking and finding nothing can mean the system works. It can also mean lawful groups spent months under a federal lens for doing something the law encourages. When an immigration agency studies voter drives, some volunteers may think twice before setting up that table again.

There's a bigger pattern too. States run American elections. Courts have blocked the administration's push to restrict mail ballots, and a proof-of-citizenship voting bill stalled in Congress. Federal effort kept going anyway, through investigations.

DHS did not respond to questions Wednesday, and says it has no plans to target polling places.

Watch two things before Nov. 3. If DHS explains where Honey's records came from, the debate shifts to whether the data was handled lawfully. If not, expect the named groups and lawmakers to press harder, possibly in court.

International students' path to U.S. jobs got far more expensive Wednesday when Homeland Security proposed a $70,000 fee on a key work program. Optional Practical Training lets graduates work in their field for a year, or three in science and tech. Colleges would pay $70,000 per student, plus $30,000 for each renewal. Today, students pay about $500. DHS says the program has become a pipeline for cheap labor and fraud. Colleges say it is a top reason students pick America, and new international enrollment fell 17% last fall. Few schools may pay that much, so the fee could quietly end the program. The rule isn't final yet, and a similar fee on skilled worker visas was struck down in court.

If you're raising a kid under 18, the government has already opened an investment account in their name. President Trump celebrated about 70 million new "Trump Accounts" at the White House Wednesday. The catch: a parent must claim the account in the official app before money flows. Children born from 2025 through 2028 get a $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. Michael and Susan Dell said $250 deposits for about 25 million kids arrive this week. Families can add up to $5,000 a year, and the money stays locked until age 18. Opening accounts automatically solves a classic problem, since fewer than 10 million kids had signed up when parents had to opt in. Whether families take the last step is the real test.

President Trump's fix for record diesel prices is getting a lukewarm review from the people it was meant to help. His order lets trucks use cheaper "dyed" diesel, normally reserved for farm and off-road use, and puts off the 24-cent federal diesel tax until year's end. Diesel averaged $6.30 a gallon on Wednesday, more than 70% higher than a year ago. Many farmers have already finished harvest. Truckers crossing state lines face a patchwork of state rules, and it's a delay on the tax, not forgiveness. Every $1 jump in diesel costs an independent trucker about $400 a week. Diesel moves nearly everything you buy, so real relief depends on supply, which experts say could take a year to recover.

That's how many records one DHS official handed to investigators hunting for noncitizen voters. The department's own reports say they came from "independent sources" and never name them. With voter data this personal, where it came from is a question worth an answer.

P.S. Should DHS police voter registration drives? Hit Reply — one word is enough.