Trump DOJ announces arrests of 28 green card holders in California on voting-related charges
The Department of Justice charged 28 legal permanent residents with fraudulent voter registration and casting illegal ballots ahead of midterm elections.
What happened
The Trump administration's Department of Justice announced the arrest of 28 legal permanent residents (green card holders) in California charged with federal crimes including fraudulent voter registration and casting illegal ballots. This announcement came as the administration escalated enforcement actions against California, filing a lawsuit to prevent the state from counting mail-in ballots from individuals federally identified as "likely" noncitizens until citizenship can be confirmed. The DOJ had previously sent Los Angeles County election officials a thumb drive containing names of alleged noncitizens and demanded confirmation of citizenship within 48 hours, without disclosing its methodology. The administration also warned state officials that processing ballots from suspected noncitizen voters could expose them to criminal investigation and prosecution.
Context
Noncitizen voting is extremely rare according to the source; the 28 arrests represent a minuscule fraction of the 174 million registered voters in the 2024 presidential election. The scale of the alleged problem the administration is addressing is substantially smaller than initially claimed—the DOJ identified more than 20,000 names as likely noncitizens in its lawsuit, but earlier DHS efforts to identify noncitizens in four states proved unreliable: when Nevada officials investigated 185 names that DHS believed were noncitizens, they found all of them were actually citizens. The narrow 48-hour deadline and lack of transparency around the identification methodology raise questions about the quality and reliability of the government's identification process.
What's disputed
The DOJ methodology for identifying noncitizens has come under scrutiny; the DHS previously refused to share its methodology with Nevada officials, and when those officials independently verified the names provided, they found the list was entirely inaccurate. The charges against the 28 individuals are allegations not yet proven in court.