On Monday, federal agents arrested lawful permanent residents across California in what the Justice Department calls "Operation Protect the Vote." The DOJ says 28 green card holders have been charged: they falsely claimed U.S. citizenship to register to vote, most of them went on to cast ballots, and they later lied on their naturalization papers. Eleven of the 28 were arrested in Monday's sweep, a coordinated effort among all four California-based U.S. Attorney's Offices, and were expected to make their initial appearances in U.S. District Court the same afternoon.
All 28 defendants are lawful permanent residents — green card holders with legal status in the United States, but not citizens, and not permitted to vote in U.S. elections. The charges include making false statements in a naturalization application, and some defendants are also charged with fraudulent voter registration. Both are felonies carrying a statutory maximum of five years in federal prison. According to the Justice Department, 23 of the 28 are accused of casting ballots in elections dating back to 2020.
"Today's arrests confirm what we suspected and what we put California on notice for: Noncitizens are voting in California elections which is unconstitutional and illegal."
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, made that statement as the arrests were announced. Homeland Security Investigations agents carried out the takedowns, including the 6 a.m. arrest of Alexander Muñoz, 72, a Belizean national, at his home in Commerce. Agents pounded on the front door and called for Muñoz to come out before taking him into custody. Prosecutors say Muñoz registered to vote in September 2019 by falsely claiming he was a U.S. citizen, then voted in the 2020 election, twice in 2022, and again in 2024 — and later stated under oath on his naturalization application that he had never claimed to be a citizen.
The sweep escalates a fight that has been building for a week. On October 13, the federal government gave California a list of more than 20,000 people it identifies as likely noncitizen registrants and asked the state to set aside their mail ballots until their citizenship could be confirmed. California refused. The Justice Department sued the state last week and later warned that election workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots cast by noncitizens risk investigation and prosecution. On Monday, DOJ lawyers also moved for a temporary restraining order to stop the 20,000 ballots from being counted.
"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."
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said California must verify the citizenship of the more than 20,000 registrants before mail-in ballots are counted. FBI Director Kash Patel said the Bureau and its partners "executed more arrests this morning tied to alleged voter fraud" and would use every legal resource to hold violators of election law accountable. California officials have pushed back: Secretary of State Shirley Weber disputes the federal evidence, and Gov. Gavin Newsom called the lawsuit "a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day."
The timing is the story's sharp edge. The sweep lands two weeks before the November 3 midterms, in a state that mails a ballot to every active registered voter and where a handful of competitive House races could decide control of Congress for the final two years of President Trump's term. The defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted — but the Justice Department is no longer arguing the risk is theoretical. It is arguing, with 28 names, that the ballots were cast.
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