Justice Department Charges 28 Foreign Nationals With Voting Crimes in California

The Justice Department on Monday charged 28 foreign nationals in California with voting and registration crimes, deepening its fight with the state over noncitizen voting weeks before the midterm elections.

Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter announced the charges, saying the defendants face some combination of unlawful voting by an alien, false claims of United States citizenship in order to vote or register to vote, and knowingly depriving California residents of a fair and impartial election process. The 28 were identified from a list of 20,000 people the department alleges are likely noncitizens registered to vote in California, a list federal officials sent to the state last week, according to McCotter.

The charges come days after the Justice Department sued California, asking a court to stop the state from counting vote-by-mail ballots cast by likely noncitizens in the upcoming election until their citizenship can be determined, according to the complaint. Early voting is already underway in California.

Eleven in custody, more arrests expected

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who heads the federal prosecution effort in the Central District of California, said 11 of the charged individuals are in custody and the rest will be taken into custody in the near future. He said many of the defendants voted in prior elections and that nationwide, 113 people have been charged with illegal voting and registration offenses.

The charged individuals live in Long Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Sacramento and San Jose, according to the Central District of California. Federal officials are pursuing the cases under an effort called “Operation Protect the Vote,” described as a coordinated push by California’s four U.S. attorneys’ offices. Some of those charged are alleged to have voted in the 2024 general election.

Investigators described one case in detail. Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, a Belizean national, was arrested at his home in Commerce around 6 a.m. Monday, according to federal officials. They say Muñoz fraudulently registered to vote in September 2019 while claiming to be a U.S. citizen, then voted in the 2020, 2022 and 2024 elections. They also say he lied under oath on a naturalization application when he denied ever claiming U.S. citizenship.

California officials push back

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the operation a political move. “This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day,” Newsom wrote on X, adding that courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections.

Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit. “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Blanche said. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system.”

The standoff began last week, when Justice Department officials ordered California election leaders to review the list of 20,000 alleged noncitizens on the rolls within 48 hours, then filed suit on Thursday. Federal officials said they gave Los Angeles County a password-protected thumb drive identifying suspected noncitizens who had received mail-in ballots, and warned state and county officials they would face a legal challenge if they failed to review the list in time.

California has more than 23 million registered voters. Nationally, more than 154 million Americans cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today and the New York Post.