California Attorney General Rob Bonta went to federal court on Tuesday to stop the Trump Justice Department from setting aside up to 20,000 California ballots it has flagged as possible noncitizen votes, calling the administration’s lawsuit “bordering on the absurd.”
In a filing in federal court in Los Angeles, Bonta asked the judge to refuse the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that federal prosecutors want — an order that would force the state to segregate the 20,000 ballots while the case is fought. “At best, this litigation is a reckless political stunt,” the filing reads. “At worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election.”
The court fight landed one day after federal prosecutors announced charges against 28 California green card holders accused of illegally voting or registering to vote. Bonta pointed out that 28 people amount to about .0001 percent of the state’s 23 million registered voters. Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Trent McCotter answered with the other side of the numbers: the 20,000 possible noncitizen voters are enough “to fill a small stadium,” all 28 defendants are on the list, and that list is “just the floor” and likely to grow.
The clash has been building for months. Federal officials told California in July that there could be as many as 190,000 noncitizen voters on its rolls. On October 13, the Justice Department sent Secretary of State Shirley Weber a letter saying it had delivered a thumb drive of names to Los Angeles County election officials — people the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots. The DOJ demanded Weber review the list within 48 hours and, for anyone whose citizenship the state could not confirm, set their ballots aside or stop ballots from reaching them. Weber refused, saying voting was already well underway. The federal government sued two days later.
In its own lawsuit, the Justice Department conceded it is “not practicable or feasible” for the federal government to dig deeper into the thousands of names it flagged before the 2026 election concludes — even though it wants California to do exactly that in the middle of an election. Los Angeles County election officials told the court they sampled 200 names from the federal thumb drive and found that many appear to be citizens, and that most had not voted and were not sent ballots. McCotter acknowledged the list could be an overcount: “There may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens. We’re not perfect, and that’s why we’ve asked California to cooperate with us.”
Bonta’s filing argues the administration has lost 26 different lawsuits seeking unredacted voter rolls from states, and quotes a court’s finding that the federal government’s citizenship records are “known to be unreliable.” He pointed to Nevada, where DHS claimed nearly 16,000 noncitizens were on the rolls but sent the state only 185 names — every one of whom Nevada confirmed was a U.S. citizen — and to Pennsylvania, where DHS alleged more than 14,000 noncitizen voters but prosecutors have charged nine.
The stakes reach well beyond California, with the midterm elections two weeks away. The U.S. Constitution gives states primary authority to run their own elections, and the case tests whether Washington can pause a state’s vote count based on a list of possible noncitizen voters that federal officials admit may be inaccurate. State officials also note they have been complying with federal grand jury subpoenas covering about 300 people under investigation. Election expert David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney, told reporters he expects California to prevail.
Some of the 28 green card holders charged on Monday say they never knew they were breaking the law. Kamlesh Shah, 68, an immigrant from India who has lived in the country for three decades, said he voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 believing he was allowed to because he had applied for citizenship, and that a polling-place worker checked his ID and handed him a ballot. Prosecutors allege 22 of the defendants voted in at least one election, five only registered, and one cast a provisional ballot in 2020. Governor Gavin Newsom said credible fraud allegations should be investigated, but questioned the timing — in the middle of people voting.
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