The Department of Justice is demanding that California segregate ballots associated with 20,000 individuals flagged as likely noncitizens, an unprecedented intervention that state and local officials argue would violate federal and state election laws. An initial review of the federal data by Los Angeles County officials revealed that the list is deeply unreliable, with a significant portion of sampled individuals appearing to be United States-born citizens, npr.org reported.
Court Filings Expose Disputed Data and Unfeasible Demands
The conflict escalated following court filings submitted Tuesday by the state of California and local election authorities in response to a federal lawsuit. The Department of Justice is attempting to compel California to investigate thousands of registered voters before their ballots are counted. State attorneys dismissed the legal action in court documents, calling it a reckless political stunt that threatens to disenfranchise thousands of voters.
The dispute began when the Justice Department delivered a thumb drive to Los Angeles County containing roughly 20,000 names compiled by Department of Homeland Security investigators. Citing security protocols regarding unknown hardware, county officials initially declined to insert the device into government computers. The DOJ followed up the next day by emailing a spreadsheet containing the same roster.
Of the 20,000 names provided, only 7,035 addresses fell within Los Angeles County, and the document contained duplicate entries, according to a court filing by Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan. To test the accuracy of the federal roster, county staff evaluated a sample of 200 records. Assistant Registrar-Recorder Monica Flores noted in court declarations that the preliminary quality control review demonstrated the list’s unreliability. Among the sampled records where birthplace was meaningfully reported, 38.9% indicated U.S. birth, serving as strong evidence of citizenship.
Unanswered Questions and Legal Defense of Methodology
The exact total of individuals on the list who possess U.S. birth records and the specific filing details remain unclear. The California Secretary of State online registration portal requests a place of birth, though filling out the field is optional. Under U.S. law, individuals born within the country receive automatic citizenship, barring extremely narrow exceptions.
Out of the 200 records sampled by Los Angeles County, 112 belonged to people whose registrations are currently canceled or inactive, while roughly 70% of the individuals had no voting history. The Trump administration has defended its identification methodology without publicly releasing its full parameters. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged during a Monday press conference that imperfections exist within the roster. Admitting that some listed individuals are likely citizens, McCotter stated that the administration sought cooperation from California to verify the data.
The Department of Justice sent a list to California election officials of more than 20,000 individuals who @USCIS and @HSI_HQ identified are likely noncitizens and who are on California’s voter rolls. This is of serious concern because California automatically mails ballots to…
Defending the federal position, DOJ deputy press secretary Kiersten Pels stated that California cannot facilitate violations of federal law. Pels added that federal authorities notified the state of likely noncitizen registrations and expected independent verification of ballots cast by those individuals, characterizing the state’s refusal as willful blindness.
DOJ Files Criminal Charges Against 28 Green-Card Holders
Concurrent with the civil filings, the DOJ announced criminal charges Monday against 28 individuals named on the list provided to the state. However, early reviews indicate that some defendants may have registered without realizing the action violated the law.
More on California
🚨BREAKING: The DOJ sued California for sending mail ballots to 20k people the Trump administration claims are likely noncitizens.The lawsuit comes after the DOJ threatened legal action if the state did not set aside cast ballots of those flagged until their citizenship status… pic.twitter.com/MVQmAzOdeF
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