The Justice Department escalated its fight over California's voter rolls on Monday, asking a federal judge in Los Angeles to immediately block the state from counting ballots cast by the more than 20,000 registrants the administration says are likely noncitizens.
The emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, argues that once ballots from ineligible voters are counted and mixed with lawful votes, the damage cannot be undone. "This Court should grant the motion," the department wrote. "Otherwise, there is a significant risk that American votes will be diluted. Just this morning, the United States charged dozens of noncitizens for election and immigration related crimes."
"Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen."
"California not just refused to act; it made clear that it is committed to treating ballots from those likely noncitizens equal to ballots from American citizens, prompting this suit and motion that seeks commonplace election relief when ballots are called into question," prosecutors wrote in the filing. The department described its original demand — that California check the names within 48 hours — as a "modest request," and noted that every name on the list was checked against State Department and Social Security records and given a second layer of manual review before it was sent to the state.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter made the same point in a statement Monday. "Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely non-citizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week," McCotter said. "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." A hearing on the motion had not been scheduled as of Monday.
The filing is the latest move in the administration's "Operation Protect the Vote." Earlier Monday, the Justice Department announced that 28 people — all lawful permanent residents — have been charged across California with illegal voting or registration, and that 11 of them were arrested that morning. Prosecutors say 23 of the defendants cast ballots in elections going back to 2020, and each faces federal felony charges carrying up to five years in prison.
The confrontation began on October 13, when federal officials gave California a list of more than 20,000 names — delivered to Los Angeles County on a thumb drive with a 48-hour deadline to act. California refused, the Justice Department sued, and on Monday it moved for the emergency order while agents made the arrests. "Noncitizens are voting in California elections, which is unconstitutional and illegal," said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. "This is not a conspiracy theory." U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said the operation will continue through the election and beyond.
California's Democratic leadership is fighting back. Attorney General Rob Bonta has said the federal push "smacks of and reeks of desperation and bad faith," and Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Trump over the weekend of trying to rig the midterm elections, telling a crowd in New Hampshire that Trump is "not screwing around." Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has called the arrests voter intimidation. The midterms are on November 3, and California's roughly 23.1 million registered voters make the state the biggest single battleground in the fight over who controls Congress.
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