The US Department of Justice has charged 28 lawful permanent residents in California with allegedly registering to vote and casting ballots illegally. The arrests, part of Operation Protect the Vote, occur amid a legal dispute between federal and state officials ahead of the November midterms.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
The US Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against 28 green card holders in California, accusing them of fraudulently registering to vote and casting illegal ballots. The announcement, made on Monday, October 19, 2026, marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to target alleged noncitizen voting ahead of the November midterm elections.
The defendants are lawful permanent residents who hold legal status in the United States but are not citizens authorized to vote. The charges include making false statements in naturalization applications and fraudulently signing up to vote, felonies that could carry up to five years in prison. According to the justice department, 21 of the 28 defendants had cast unlawful ballots. Eleven defendants have been taken into custody, while arrests for the remaining 17 are ongoing.
The crackdown, dubbed Operation Protect the Vote, involved all four federal US Attorney's offices in California. Investigations were conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Among those charged are Omar Alexander Muñoz, a 72-year-old Belizean citizen accused of voting in the 2020, 2022, and 2024 elections, and Amandeep Kaur, a 30-year-old Indian citizen accused of voting in the November 2024 presidential election.
The arrests come days after the justice department sued California, demanding the courts block the state from tabulating certain ballots. The federal government provided state officials with a list of more than 20,000 people it "believes are likely noncitizens" who were sent ballots by mail. The justice department demanded that California officials confirm within 48 hours whether those on the list were citizens and set aside the ballots of those who remained unconfirmed.
California’s secretary of state, Shirley Weber, condemned the demands as "outrageous," stating that federal officials had made "vague and unsubstantiated allegations." Weber noted that the Department of Homeland Security initially claimed more than 190,000 registered voters "may be" noncitizens but revised the number down to 20,000 without sharing details about its data and methodology. She argued that treating voters on the list as ineligible until proven otherwise would violate federal law prohibiting the systematic removal of voter names before a federal election.
Acting US Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged that the government’s list might not be entirely accurate. "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 said. He described the 20,000 figure as the "floor" of confidence, while the earlier 190,000 figure included names with "medium" and "lower" confidence that had not been manually verified.
McCotter also sent a letter to election officials threatening to prosecute any official who tabulated a ballot from a noncitizen. "The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant. Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime, and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful," McCotter wrote. First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli stated, "Today's arrests prove what we have been saying all along," and rejected claims that the allegations were exaggerated, saying, "This is not a conspiracy theory."
Election experts and voting rights groups have raised concerns that the crackdown could disenfranchise US citizens. Research cited by The Associated Press indicates that voting by noncitizens is extremely rare. In Nevada, state officials reported that DHS had wrongly identified 185 people on the state’s voter rolls as noncitizens.
The justice department stated that in recent weeks, federal prosecutors have filed charges against a total of 112 people across 20 states for alleged registration offenses and illegal voting. California has 23.1 million registered voters. The dispute remains before the courts as election officials prepare for the November 3 midterm elections.
The charges and the accompanying lawsuit represent a significant federal intervention in state election administration just weeks before the midterms. The conflict highlights deep disagreements between the Trump administration and California officials over voter eligibility verification, the accuracy of federal data, and the legal authority to withhold ballots. The outcome could influence election procedures nationwide and raise questions about the balance between preventing fraud and protecting voting rights.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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