Justice Department Charges 28 California Green Card Holders in Voting Sweep

Federal prosecutors on Monday announced charges against 28 lawful permanent residents in California, accusing them of illegally registering to vote or voting in federal elections in what the Justice Department called Operation Protect the Vote. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said 11 people were arrested on Monday. All four federal prosecutors’ offices in the state took part, the AP reported.

Green card holders may live and work in the United States legally, but they may not vote in federal elections. The charges include making false statements on naturalization applications and submitting fraudulent voter registrations, both felonies that carry a maximum of five years in federal prison, according to the department’s announcement as reported by the Associated Press and Sinclair’s National Desk.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter announced the case at a news conference in Los Angeles, saying noncitizen voting harms both elections and the citizens who take part in them. FBI Director Kash Patel called protecting elections from criminal interference a top priority. The AP reported that one defendant, a 72-year-old man born in Belize who is accused of voting illegally in four elections, was arrested at his home in Commerce, in Los Angeles County, by a large team of agents, and that neighbors questioned the show of force.

The arrests came days after the department sued California to stop election officials from counting mail ballots sent to people the federal government has flagged as likely noncitizens until their status is confirmed. The suit followed a dispute over a password-protected thumb drive holding about 20,000 names that the government says were mailed ballots for the Nov. 3 election. The department says the state missed a 48-hour deadline to review the list, and McCotter said the 20,000 figure was only a floor. California’s secretary of state has said the administration has offered no evidence for its claim. The state mails ballots to all registered voters.

McCotter also wrote late last week to lawyers for Los Angeles County, copying Secretary of State Shirley Weber and county Registrar Dean Logan, warning that election workers who knowingly process ballots cast by noncitizens could be investigated and prosecuted as aiders and abettors. Logan replied that his office was focused on running a fair and secure election 18 days out, that the department was relying on unverified claims about eligibility, and that the dispute belonged in court.

The administration’s strongest argument is a simple one: voting by noncitizens is a crime, and each unlawful ballot cancels out a lawful one. Yet the available data show such cases are rare, hard to prove and have not been shown to change election results, the AP noted. More than 227 million people were registered to vote in 2024, and California alone has more than 23 million registered voters. Before Monday, the department said it had charged about 90 people with election misconduct this year, about 50 of them accused of voting as noncitizens.

The department has separately sued 30 states and the District of Columbia to obtain detailed voter records, including partial Social Security numbers. Those suits have not succeeded so far, according to the AP.