DOJ Charges 28 in California Voter Fraud Crackdown; 11 Arrested

Federal agents swept through California on Monday morning, arresting 11 people in a voter-fraud crackdown two weeks before the midterm elections.

The Justice Department charged 28 foreign nationals with illegally registering to vote and, in most cases, casting ballots. All 28 are lawful permanent residents — green-card holders. Under federal law, only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections.

The charges are part of “Operation Protect the Vote,” a coordinated effort across all four of California’s U.S. Attorney’s offices. Most of the charges are felonies: fraudulent voter registration and false statements on naturalization applications. Each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Those arrested Monday were expected to make their initial appearances in federal court on Monday afternoon. No pleas were to be entered.

The best-known name so far is Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, a Belizean national living in Commerce. Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested him at his home around 6 a.m., according to the California Post. Court papers say Muñoz registered to vote in September 2019 by falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, then voted in 2020, twice in 2022, and again in 2024. Prosecutors say he also lied under oath on his citizenship application, denying he had ever claimed to be a citizen.

“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,” said Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter put it this way: “Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen.”

Two weeks of escalation

On Oct. 13, the federal government gave California a list of these individuals and asked the state to set aside their vote-by-mail ballots until citizenship could be confirmed. California declined. On Thursday, the Justice Department filed an emergency lawsuit seeking a court order — part of a broader dispute over a separate list of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens the feds say are on California’s rolls.

California has pushed back at every step. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the effort “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 has said the courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections. Secretary of State Shirley Weber has questioned the federal data.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has defended the federal push: “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America.”

The midterms are Nov. 3.

Criminal complaints contain allegations only. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.