The short version
- Federal authorities have filed criminal charges against twenty-eight lawful permanent residents in California for allegedly registering to vote illegally.
- The Department of Justice simultaneously sued the state, demanding it block ballots from individuals on a disputed list of potential noncitizens.
- Election experts and state officials criticize the federal data as inaccurate and warn that these efforts could disenfranchise eligible American voters.
The United States Department of Justice has initiated criminal proceedings against twenty-eight individuals in California, accusing them of fraudulently registering to vote and casting ballots despite lacking citizenship. The defendants are lawful permanent residents, commonly known as green card holders, who possess legal status to live and work in the country but do not have the right to participate in federal elections. Prosecutors allege that these individuals made false statements under oath during the voter registration process. Eleven of those charged have already been taken into custody, with arrests continuing for the remainder. The charges include making false statements in naturalization applications and voting fraud, felonies that carry potential prison sentences of up to five years.
This legal action represents a significant escalation in the federal government’s broader campaign against alleged noncitizen voting. In recent weeks, federal prosecutors have filed similar charges against a total of one hundred twelve people across twenty states. The timing of these arrests is particularly notable, occurring just days before the high-stakes November midterm elections. Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and voting rights organizations, argue that this aggressive posture is designed to cast doubt on the integrity of the upcoming election results rather than address a widespread problem. Election experts consistently note that noncitizen voting is extremely rare, suggesting that the scale of the federal response may be disproportionate to the actual incidence of such offenses.
Concurrent with the criminal charges, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of California. The federal government is demanding that courts block the tabulation of certain ballots in the upcoming election. Central to this legal challenge is a thumb drive provided by federal officials to Los Angeles County election authorities. This device purportedly contained names of individuals believed to be noncitizens who were unlawfully registered to vote. The Department of Justice demanded that state officials confirm the citizenship status of these individuals within forty-eight hours and set aside any ballots cast by those who could not immediately verify their eligibility.
The data underlying these federal claims has faced significant scrutiny regarding its accuracy and methodology. Initially, the Department of Homeland Security claimed in July that more than one hundred ninety thousand registered voters in California might be noncitizens. However, this estimate was later revised downward to approximately twenty thousand individuals. Shirley Weber, California’s Secretary of State, condemned the federal demands as outrageous, pointing out that officials have made vague and unsubstantiated allegations for months without sharing detailed data or methodology. She argued that treating thousands of voters as ineligible until proven otherwise violates federal law, which prohibits states from systematically removing names from voter lists in the lead-up to a federal election.
Trent McCotter, the acting US Deputy Attorney General, acknowledged during a press interaction that the government’s list of alleged noncitizen voters might not be entirely accurate. When pressed for details on the methodology used to generate these lists, McCotter admitted that some names included might ultimately prove to be citizens. He described the initial estimate of one hundred ninety thousand as a ceiling and the revised figure of twenty thousand as a floor, noting that the lower number represented cases with higher confidence levels. The larger initial figure included individuals with medium or lower confidence ratings who had not yet undergone manual verification.
The federal government’s approach has drawn criticism for its potential to intimidate election officials and disrupt the voting process. McCotter sent a letter to election officials threatening prosecution for any official who tabulated a ballot from a noncitizen. Legal experts have described this threat as specious, arguing that it lacks solid legal foundation and serves primarily as an intimidation tactic. The lawsuit and accompanying threats come at a time when California has approximately twenty-three million registered voters, raising concerns about the logistical burden placed on state election infrastructure to verify citizenship status for thousands of individuals under tight deadlines.
Previous federal efforts to identify noncitizen voters have encountered difficulties in other jurisdictions, casting further doubt on the reliability of the current campaign. For instance, officials in Nevada recently reported that the Department of Homeland Security had wrongly identified one hundred eighty-five people on the state’s voter rolls as noncitizens. These errors highlight the challenges associated with matching federal immigration data with state voter registration records. The discrepancy between initial high estimates and later revised figures suggests that the federal government’s data may be prone to significant error, potentially leading to the wrongful targeting of eligible voters.
As the midterm elections approach, the conflict between federal prosecutors and state election officials intensifies. The Department of Justice continues to pursue both criminal charges against individuals and civil litigation against the state, aiming to enforce strict voter eligibility standards. Meanwhile, California officials maintain that their processes are secure and that federal interventions are unnecessary and harmful. The outcome of these legal battles could have lasting implications for how voter eligibility is verified in future elections and the balance of power between federal and state authorities in administering democratic processes.
Sources behind this briefing
Go to the original reporting
- The Guardian World↗DoJ charges 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud
