2026-10-24 · contested story
DOJ demands California counties identify noncitizen voters: Reports
The Department of Justice, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, delivered a list of roughly 20,000 "likely noncitizens" to California election officials on a password-protected thumb drive (with the password reportedly on a sticky note), gave them 48 hours to review and segregate the associated mail-in ballots, and then sued the state and Los Angeles County when officials refused. The administration escalated further by threatening election workers with criminal prosecution as 'aiders and abettors,' charging 28 green card holders across California in 'Operation Protect the Vote,' and teasing an additional 'batch' of 17,000 names. California officials called the list unverifiable and legally impossible to act on within 90 days of an election, and an L.A. County sample review found nearly 40% of flagged voters indicated a U.S. birthplace.
How each side frames it
left
"This is about voter suppression, not protecting elections."
"his Department of Justice sued California on Thursday for not disqualifying over 20,000 mail ballots from voters it claims could be noncitizens"
"Trump's election interference effort is well underway."
"Trump's voter raids have begun"
"These and other heavy-handed efforts by the Justice Department aren't designed to make elections secure: Evidence has consistently shown that they are secure already."
center
"The federal government says those are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election, although the secretary of state said the administration has provided no evidence to support that claim."
"even though data shows that the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races"
"I don't think most people in the L.A. area or beyond will actually encounter any of the disruption that the administration is trying to project"
"DOJ's clear threat of prosecution is transparently about intimidating the public servants in the California Secretary of State's Office and Los Angeles County Registrar's Office."
""State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," said U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche."
right
"In perhaps the most damning act of #Resistance yet, Gavin Newsom's California is refusing to even check if a few thousand specific registered voters are in fact noncitizens."
"This should not be controversial, as the criminal statute is clear: only American citizens may vote in federal elections."
"It's a stunning admission and it just shows that they're unwilling to comply with federal law"
"every vote cast by a noncitizen cancels out the vote of an American citizen"
"Police can't catch every speeder, but that doesn't mean speeding isn't widespread. 28 is what we could charge in a week"
What each side left out
The right left out — covered by the NPR & The Guardian & LA Times & ABC News
- L.A. County sample finding that ~40% of flagged voters indicated a U.S. birthplace
- the collapse of the California estimate from 190,000 to 20,000 with no explained methodology
- that many defendants said they had no recollection of registering and may have been DMV errors
The right left out — covered by the L.A. Material & Yahoo & California State Portal
- that the DOJ poster-child defendant Omar Munoz is a registered Republican
The left left out — covered by the Fox News & The National News Desk & The Federalist & voz.us
- that California's registrar admitted it cannot independently verify citizenship beyond voter attestation
- that at least some defendants (Munoz) allegedly voted in four separate elections
- the Census Bureau brief and voz.us claim of 24,000 noncitizen 2020 votes
The left left out — covered by the LA Times & The Federalist
- that DOJ characterized 190,000 as a 'ceiling' and 20,000 as a 'floor' of high-confidence matches
- New Jersey's documented 6,600-noncitizen DMV registration glitch as a real vulnerability
The center left out — covered by the Salon/ProPublica & KJZZ/ProPublica
- Deep investigative accounting of the HSI operation's internal dysfunction and false-positive warnings
The right left out — covered by the NBC News & Just Security & Civil Discourse
- the National Voter Registration Act 90-day bar on systematic voter roll purges as the state's legal basis for refusal
What's actually true?
[verified] The DOJ gave California 48 hours to review a list of ~20,000 alleged noncitizens on a password-protected thumb drive, with the password written on a sticky note.
[verified] The DOJ charged 28 green card holders across California in 'Operation Protect the Vote,' arresting 11.
[verified] An L.A. County sample review of 200 records found nearly 40% (38.9%) indicated a U.S. birthplace and about 71% had no voting history.
[verified] In Nevada, DHS initially claimed ~16,000 noncitizens; after review the number of confirmed noncitizens was 185, and Nevada determined all 185 were U.S. citizens.
[verified] The DOJ's California estimate dropped from Mullin's July claim of ~190,000 noncitizens to 20,000, with DOJ calling 190,000 the 'ceiling' and 20,000 the 'floor.'
[verified] The DOJ warned California election officials they could be prosecuted as 'aiders and abettors to a federal crime' for tabulating flagged ballots, and Trump posted 'They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!'
[verified] The DOJ has sued roughly 30 states for refusing to hand over voter rolls and lost 26 of 26 decided cases on that issue.
[verified] The 28 charged represent roughly 0.0001% of California's 23 million registered voters, per AG Bonta.
The narrative clash
Reliability of the 20,000-name list — whether it contains U.S. citizens
Left: it appeared to contain a lot of U.S.-born citizens... only 7,000 people on it actually having Los Angeles County addresses
Right: these reported numbers 'are meaningless because, by their own admission, they have no way to verify anyone's citizenship status or their birthplace'
Whether noncitizen voting is a widespread problem
Left: there's never been evidence to support this idea that noncitizens vote in anything but tiny numbers in American elections
Right: No, this isn't the total number of noncitizen voters in California. Police can't catch every speeder, but that doesn't mean speeding isn't widespread. 28 is what we could charge in a week
Whether California can/should verify citizenship
Left: California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the state's voter rolls
Right: California's own secretary of state and attorney general have proven otherwise... by indicating the state isn't bothering to track it
Whether charged defendants intentionally committed fraud
Left: several of those detained told the Los Angeles Times that they had no recollection of ever registering to vote... most incidents of green card holders registering to vote are accidental or the result of clerical errors
Right: You have to go out of your way to register to vote; it's not something that just happens to you... they swore under oath that they were a citizen
122 sources analyzed
HuffPost NPR The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Just The News The Daily Signal Common Dreams NPR ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos Just The News The Federalist Salon.com CNN Roll Call New York Post Washington Examiner Salon NBC News MyNewsLA.com Just The News The National News Desk Salon Los Angeles Times KOMO Just The News The Federalist The Bulwark Los Angeles Times The Independent New York Post The Federalist Common Dreams PBS ABC30 Fresno New York Post The Federalist Common Dreams Al Jazeera NAACP New York Post Fox News Mother Jones NBC News Los Angeles Daily News The Dispatch voz.us The New Republic The Guardian WPDE Richmond Times-Dispatch The Daily Signal The Daily Beast NPR tippahnews.com New York Post The Daily Signal Common Dreams Los Angeles Times California State Portal | CA.gov Fox Business The Daily Signal The Daily Beast NBC News Talking Points Memo The Dispatch Common Dreams Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance Just Security The Dispatch Vox Los Angeles Times tag24.com NTD News Salon The Washington Post 10News.com The Dispatch The Boston Globe The Mercury News Spectrum News Investor's Business Daily The Daily Beast NewsOne LAist Investor's Business Daily The Daily Beast PBS NewsHour Yahoo Investor's Business Daily Vox Politico inewsource Investor's Business Daily Vox Mediaite NBC Bay Area Daily Kos NBC News CNBC The Daily Beast CNN Newsroom | UCLA Vox MSN (UK) Newsweek NPR MS NOW Sacramento Bee News From The States CNN The i Paper U.S. News & World Report Democracy Docket CNN Fortune Courthouse News Patch KJZZ KMPH Fox 26 Georgia Public Broadcasting KQED L.A. Material World Socialist Web Site