“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit’s so important,” Trent McCotter, acting U.S. deputy attorney general, told reporters in Los Angeles on Monday.
Federal prosecutors charged 28 foreign nationals with election-related offenses as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Protect the Vote, courthousenews.com reported. The announcement lands directly inside an escalating legal battle to block more than 20,000 potentially ineligible California voters from casting ballots in the mail-in system.
The Department of Justice filed an emergency motion for relief asking the court for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Prosecutors want to set aside the ballots of flagged voters to confirm their U.S. citizenship status before any votes are tallied.
Inside the Federal Charges and State Pushback
Of the 28 individuals charged in California, 11 are currently in custody. Across the United States, federal officials report that 113 people have faced similar voting charges in 20 different states over the last seven weeks.
By stark contrast, the Biden administration charged only 13 people with voter fraud during its entire tenure. All 28 defendants in the California sweep are permanent residents or green card holders legally permitted to reside in the country, but strictly barred from voting.
Federal prosecutors accuse many of these defendants of casting ballots multiple times, including in the October 2026 primary election. Some have maintained voter registrations spanning more than two decades.
The filed charges range from misdemeanors to felonies, encompassing fraudulent voter registration and false statements in naturalization applications. Both of those specific charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
Ten of the defendants are Mexican nationals, while others hail from Canada, Guatemala, and the Philippines. Approximately half of the accused live within Los Angeles County.
“Today’s arrests prove what we have been saying,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “California is mailing ballots to noncitizens, and they are refusing to comply with federal law, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote.”
The Data Dispute Over California Voter Rolls
Federal officials warned California back in July that up to 190,000 noncitizens might populate its voter rolls. The current target figure of 20,000 represents individuals the DOJ considers the most likely noncitizen registrants.
To compile this list, DOJ analysts cross-referenced publicly accessible state voter rolls with Department of Homeland Security immigration data. Naturalized citizens, deceased individuals, and voters holding parent-based citizenship were filtered out of the pool.
State officials strongly dispute the narrative of widespread irregularities. Walter Garcia, a spokesperson for the California Attorney General’s Office, emphasized the sheer scale of the electorate.
“The 28 individuals charged this morning represent a tiny fraction — approximately 0.0001% — of California’s more than 23 million registered voters,” Garcia said. He noted that isolated cases occur across both red and blue states and should face prosecution wherever they surface.
Federal prosecutors maintain that state and local authorities stonewalled efforts to cooperate. McCotter stated that Department of Homeland Security and DOJ officials repeatedly attempted to collaborate with California over the summer to clean up voter lists, but received no response.
The DOJ singled out the Los Angeles County elections office for refusing to engage with federal investigators. A spokesperson for the county elections office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Road to the Courtroom
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber previously voiced skepticism regarding federal methodology. McCotter defended the integrity of the data during the Monday press conference in Los Angeles.
“We have now revealed the sourcing here and the methodology. We think it’s pretty solid,” McCotter told reporters. “If they wanted to cooperate, they have our number, and they know how to get in contact with all of us.”
The legal fight centers on 11 of those charged in California who now face federal court proceedings alongside pending emergency motions. As the court weighs the preliminary injunction, the state faces mounting pressure to verify citizenship data before mail-in ballots face final tabulation.
