LOS ANGELES — The Department of Justice announced criminal charges Monday against 28 lawful permanent residents in California, accusing them of fraudulently registering to vote and casting unlawful ballots in federal elections.
The coordinated sweep, labeled Operation Protect the Vote by federal authorities, comes just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It marks an aggressive escalation in the Trump administration’s nationwide focus on noncitizen voting, an issue that election researchers consistently find is extremely rare.
Arrests and Allegations Across California
Federal officials said 11 of the 28 defendants were taken into custody on Monday, with additional arrests expected soon. The defendants are green card holders who possess lawful residency in the United States but lack the citizenship required to participate in elections. Prosecutors allege that 21 of the 28 individuals cast illegal ballots, and several face felony charges carrying up to five years in prison for submitting fraudulent registrations or lying on naturalization paperwork.
Court records indicate that some defendants expressed confusion regarding their eligibility, with multiple individuals cooperating during voluntary interviews while applying to become citizens. In one court affidavit, Erick Ronaldo Soto Mendizábal told federal agents that canvassers registered him outside a grocery store and poll workers later permitted him to submit a blank ballot. Another defendant, José Probitsado Amaro, told investigators he did not recall signing up to vote but completed a mail ballot sent to his home without any intent to defraud anyone, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Prosecutors said the individuals charged reside throughout California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Anaheim and Long Beach, and originated from countries such as Belize, Canada, Guatemala, India and Mexico.
Clash Over State Voter Rolls
The criminal charges follow a federal lawsuit filed last week against California and Los Angeles County. The Justice Department demanded that state officials verify the citizenship of roughly 20,000 voters within 48 hours or segregate their mail-in ballots. California mails ballots to all of its more than 23 million registered voters.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber sharply criticized the federal demands, noting that the Department of Homeland Security previously claimed in July that more than 190,000 registered voters might not be citizens before drastically reducing that estimate to 20,000 without explaining its methodology. Weber warned that purging or treating those voters as ineligible violates federal safeguards against systematic roll removals shortly before an election.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn denounced the arrests as political theater designed to sow doubt ahead of November. “This is voter intimidation and a blatant attempt to undermine trust in our midterm elections,” Hahn said, according to The Guardian. “These arrests are being used to paint a picture of widespread voter fraud when we know that is not the case.”
Federal Warnings to Election Workers
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged that the government list of 20,000 names could contain errors. “There may be some names on there who, it turns out, ultimately are citizens. We’re not perfect, and that’s why we’ve asked California to cooperate with us,” McCotter told reporters.
McCotter also issued a written warning to election administrators, cautioning that workers who knowingly count ballots from confirmed noncitizens could face prosecution under federal aiding and abetting statutes. Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan responded that his agency remains committed to administering a secure election and that the federal government’s unverified claims belong before a judge.
Voting rights advocates and legal scholars have questioned the administration’s methods, citing similar efforts in Nevada where 185 voters flagged by federal authorities as potential noncitizens were later confirmed to be U.S. citizens. Nationally, federal prosecutors have charged more than 110 people across 20 states in recent weeks over voting-related offenses as courts consider whether to order California to set aside the contested ballots before Election Day.
