Federal authorities in California charged 28 lawful permanent residents on Monday with federal election-related offenses, including fraudulent voter registration and making false statements on naturalization applications, as part of an intensified effort by the Justice Department to address alleged voter fraud. The arrests and charges were announced at a news conference in Los Angeles amid ongoing disputes about the scope and impact of noncitizen voting in the state.
Among those charged was Ana Domínguez, a 60-year-old El Salvador native living in Long Beach, who was accused of registering to vote in 2006 and then failing to disclose this in her naturalization paperwork submitted this year. Domínguez expressed confusion and denied recalling any voter registration or voting, stating she has never voted. Another defendant, Omar Muñoz, a 72-year-old resident of Belize, was arrested early Monday at his home in City of Commerce. Muñoz faces charges related to registering illegally and voting multiple times in recent elections, and allegedly giving false information on his citizenship application. His family members described the raid as excessive, citing his age and recent multiple surgeries, and criticized the public nature of the arrest operation, which officials referred to as "Operation Protect the Vote."
Federal prosecutors framed the arrests as evidence of a broader problem of noncitizens participating in California elections, an issue that President Donald Trump has frequently raised. Trent McCotter, a senior Justice Department official, stated that all charged individuals were part of a list provided to state officials identifying approximately 20,000 likely noncitizens on the voter rolls. The administration has demanded that California and Los Angeles County hold mail-in ballots submitted by those individuals until citizenship status can be verified, warning election officials that failure to comply could lead to criminal investigations.
California officials, including Attorney General Rob Bonta, acknowledged that isolated cases of illegal voting exist but rejected claims of widespread voter fraud. Bonta described the 28 charges as a “drop in the bucket” relative to the state’s 23 million registered voters and emphasized that prosecutions of voter fraud are appropriate when warranted. He also highlighted past cases of rare and isolated incidents, such as a woman who registered her dog to vote, to illustrate the rarity of intentional fraud.
Legal experts and election officials noted that many instances of noncitizen voter registration result from administrative errors or confusion rather than deliberate wrongdoing. Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, pointed out that accidental registrations can occur through processes such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, and emphasized that intentional fraud must be demonstrated to justify criminal charges.
The defendants appeared before a federal magistrate judge Monday afternoon, where they acknowledged the charges and were subsequently released on personal recognizance without supervision. Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for early November. Family members and advocates for the accused expressed concern about the methods used in the arrests and questioned whether some individuals may have been mistaken for others with similar names, underscoring the contentious and politically charged nature of the ongoing debate over voter fraud in California ahead of the midterm elections.