Ahead of the midterm elections, 28 noncitizens have been charged with illegally registering to vote or casting ballots in California.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on the 19th that an ‘Protect the Vote’ sweep conducted across California led to the arrest of 11 noncitizens and criminal charges against a total of 28 individuals.
All 28 individuals charged are permanent residents without the right to vote and are accused of unlawful voter registration. Among them, 21 were found to have actually voted in past elections.
Some are also accused of providing false information on their naturalization applications. Omar Munoz (72), a Belizean national living in the Commerce area, was charged with registering to vote in 2019 by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and subsequently voting in the 2020 (once), 2022 (twice), and 2024 (once) elections. He was also found to have falsely stated on his naturalization application that he had never claimed to be a U.S. citizen. Charges of making false statements on a naturalization application and illegal voter registration each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Previously, the Department of Justice raised the possibility that approximately 20,000 noncitizens were registered on California’s voter rolls and demanded that the state government review and take action within 48 hours. However, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan rejected the demand, stating that the DOJ failed to provide evidence of lack of qualification and made unreasonable demands ahead of the election.
Trent McCotter, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice, emphasized, “These arrests are evidence that California’s voter rolls must be cleaned up to ensure that the legitimate voting rights of citizens are not infringed upon by noncitizen illegal voting,” adding, “We will not stand by and allow noncitizens to vote in actual elections.”
