Justice Department Charges 28 California Green Card Holders With Voting Crimes, Two Weeks Before the Midterms

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (TodayViralUSA) — Federal prosecutors on Monday charged 28 lawful permanent residents across California with election-related crimes, accusing them of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register to vote and, in most cases, casting ballots, as the Trump administration escalates its fight with the state over noncitizen voting 15 days before the Nov. 3 election.

Federal agents arrested 11 of the defendants on Monday, and they were expected to make initial appearances in federal court that afternoon, the Justice Department said. No pleas were to be entered. The cases were brought under what the department calls “Operation Protect the Vote,” a joint effort by all four U.S. attorney’s offices in California.

What prosecutors allege

All 28 defendants hold green cards, which give them legal permanent status in the United States but do not allow them to vote in federal elections. According to the department, they swore on voter registration forms that they were citizens, and many later voted. Prosecutors also allege that some of them went on to deny, in their applications to become naturalized citizens, that they had ever claimed citizenship, registered or voted.

CalMatters reported that prosecutors said 22 of the defendants voted in at least one election, some as recently as the June primary, while five only registered and one cast a provisional ballot in 2020. A department spokesperson put the number who voted at 21, The Guardian reported.

The charges vary by defendant. Some face misdemeanor counts of voting by a noncitizen in a federal election, which carry up to a year in prison. Others are charged with felonies, including fraudulent voter registration and false statements on naturalization paperwork, which carry up to five years. The three defendants from Fresno County, in the Central Valley, face the misdemeanor charge, GV Wire reported.

Tied to the fight over 20,000 ballots

The department said every defendant appears on a list of more than 20,000 people it described as likely noncitizen registrants, which it sent to California officials on Oct. 13 with a demand that their mail ballots be set aside until citizenship could be confirmed. The state refused, and the federal government sued to stop those ballots from being counted.

“Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said. “California refused to look at that list. Today’s charges show exactly what that refusal puts at risk.”

McCotter said prosecutors had asked the judge in that lawsuit to order state officials to segregate ballots that may already have been mailed to suspected noncitizens. Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said about 113 noncitizens had been charged in 20 states over the past two months, and he warned that election officials could face criminal exposure if they knowingly processed such ballots after being notified, according to CalMatters.

State officials push back

California leaders have dismissed the federal claims. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the effort “a sad, desperate attempt” to suppress voters, and Secretary of State Shirley Weber has called the department’s demands “outrageous.” Weber has noted that federal officials first suggested in July that more than 190,000 registered voters “may be” noncitizens before revising that figure to 20,000, without sharing their data or methods, The Guardian reported.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn called the arrests “voter intimidation.” Election experts say noncitizen voting is extremely rare. The 28 cases compare with more than 9.4 million Californians who voted in the June primary and roughly 23.1 million registered voters statewide.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.