--- title: "U.S. Charges 28 Noncitizens in California With Illegal Voting or Registration" description: "The cases are 0.0001 percent of the state’s 23 million registered voters, and they arrive 15 days before the Nov. 3 election." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-19T19:02:44Z modified: 2026-10-20T04:06:12Z url: https://rews.cc/a/u-s-charges-28-noncitizens-in-california-with-illegal-voting-0d1379 language: en tags: ["voting", "immigration", "trump", "california", "justice", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # U.S. Charges 28 Noncitizens in California With Illegal Voting or Registration *The cases are 0.0001 percent of the state’s 23 million registered voters, and they arrive 15 days before the Nov. 3 election.* By rews desk · October 19, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/u-s-charges-28-noncitizens-in-california-with-illegal-voting-0d1379 ## In brief - Federal prosecutors on Monday charged 28 green card holders in California with illegal voting or registration - A related federal lawsuit seeks to block the counting of as many as 20,000 ballots from suspected noncitizens - The 28 cases are 0.0001 percent of California’s 23 million registered voters, Attorney General Rob Bonta said - About 113 noncitizens in 20 states have been charged with such offenses in the last two months, a prosecutor said - Homeland Security flagged 185 Nevada voters as possible noncitizens, and the state confirmed all were citizens Federal prosecutors on Monday charged 28 green card holders with illegally registering to vote or casting ballots in California, the latest move in a nationwide Trump administration push against noncitizen voting that election officials and independent experts say is exceedingly rare. The charges came days after the Justice Department sued state and Los Angeles County election officials, seeking to block the counting of as many as 20,000 ballots from registered voters prosecutors suspect are not citizens, [CalMatters reported](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/). On Monday, the government filed a motion urging the federal judge overseeing that lawsuit in Los Angeles to order officials to segregate ballots prosecutors believe may already have been mailed to noncitizens. “Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, told reporters. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.” Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, a Democrat, said voter fraud is wrong and the suspects should be held accountable if guilty. But the numbers, he told reporters at an event on Monday, do not bear out President Trump’s repeated claims that the state’s elections are riddled with fraudulent voters. “Twenty-eight out of 23 million registered voters in California is just … a drop in the bucket numerically,” he said. “It’s 0.0001% of all the registered voters, and it makes the point that there is no widespread voter fraud.” ![A large magnifying glass highlights a red envelope among many cream envelopes arranged in rows against a teal background.](https://rews.cc/img/290cc6bf1014d7c7382199ecc4ce19b7d08ab4e6.webp) The charges land 15 days before the Nov. 3 election, in which Californians are already deciding on a new governor and 14 statewide ballot measures, along with several competitive races likely to help determine which party controls Congress. All 28 defendants are lawful permanent residents, free to live in the United States but not permitted to vote. They live across the state, from Los Angeles County to Sacramento. Twenty-two are accused of voting in at least one election, some as recently as the June primary, in which more than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots. Five are charged only with registering, and one with submitting a provisional ballot in 2020. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who oversees federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, said about 113 noncitizens in 20 states have been charged with illegal voting or registration offenses in the last two months. He also raised the prospect of criminal cases against election officials. “They are being complicit in noncitizens voting in our elections,” he said, warning that officials “could also face criminal consequences for that conduct if they knowingly process ballots from noncitizens once we’ve informed them who the noncitizens are.” ![A giant judge’s gavel looms over a seated person placing a ballot into a box on a table against a yellow background.](https://rews.cc/img/d0da9f5287142f1865a494ebd9c62bbe16b7d09f.webp) The campaign has already reached into county election offices. Federal investigators issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles elections officials seeking information on registered voters, and sought similar data in San Diego County, the news outlet inewsource reported, and in Orange County, according to records CalMatters obtained last week. Outside experts and election officials of both parties have long found voter fraud to be vanishingly rare, despite claims from Mr. Trump and his allies that it happens on a scale large enough to swing elections to Democrats. In Nevada, the Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that nearly 16,000 noncitizens were on the voter rolls, then sent the state only 185 names. Nevada officials confirmed every one of the 185 was a U.S. citizen. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the federal 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,” and said the prosecutors’ request to throw out ballots “should scare the hell out of every American.” “We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State,” he said in a statement, “and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook.”