With moves in Alaska and California, the department has stepped up interventions in the midterm elections as the president’s instrument of unmediated executive power.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

The letters are the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and President Donald Trump's Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections.

Hope, dread and the final stretch to Election Day.

© The New York Times

Election officials across the state received letters from the agency saying if they fail to comply, they “risk significant federal scrutiny.”

© Philip Cheung for The New York Times

Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalize.