Federal agents arrested another 11 noncitizens in California on Monday and charged another 28 for unlawfully registering and voting in U.S. elections under Operation Protect the Vote.
According to prosecutors, all 28 were green-card holders, barred from casting ballots under U.S. law. Prosecutors say they lied about U.S. citizenship on voter registration forms and later on naturalization applications. Many cast ballots — some repeatedly — including in the 2026 primary. Charges include false statements and fraudulent registration, each carrying up to five years in prison.
“Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General @PADAGMcCotter. “Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials…
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) October 20, 2026
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said the cases expose the damage and reinforce the need to verify 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants before the Nov. 3 midterms.
“Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week. California refused to look at that list. Today’s charges show exactly what that refusal puts at risk. California must verify the citizenship of those more than 20,000 registrants before mail-in ballots are counted.”
“This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens,” McCotter added. “Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen.”
The department, which has sued California to force verification before the Nov. 3 midterms, noted that every defendant appeared on its DOJ-DHS list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizens on California’s rolls.
Calling the 28 cases negligible, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has refused to review the names or sequester the mail ballots.
“28 out of 23 million registered voters in California is just a drop in the bucket numerically. It’s .0001% of all of the registered voters and it makes the point there is no widespread voter fraud,” he said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has pressed the state’s refusal to open its rolls, asking, “What are they afraid of?”
For now, the defendants remain registered voters. Though California election workers have been warned by federal officials that knowingly counting unlawful ballots places them at risk for criminal exposure, the state continues to rely on self-attestation while fighting federal access to its voter data.
