The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday announced criminal charges against 28 lawful permanent residents living in California, accusing them of registering to vote and casting ballots illegally in federal elections. Federal agents arrested 11 of the defendants in early-morning raids across the state as part of a coordinated initiative the department is calling "Operation Protect the Vote" — a development trending per news coverage 15 days before the November 3 midterm elections.

What the 28 defendants are accused of

According to the Justice Department's announcement, all 28 defendants are green card holders — people legally permitted to live and work in the United States who are not U.S. citizens and therefore not eligible to vote in federal elections. Prosecutors allege the group fraudulently registered to vote and, in most cases, cast illegally obtained ballots in elections spanning 2020 through 2024, with one defendant accused of voting in the June 2026 primary.

Federal prosecutors say 21 of the 28 cast unlawful ballots. The charges include making false statements in naturalization applications, fraudulent voter registration, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to vote, and voting by a noncitizen in a federal election. The felony counts carry maximum sentences of five years in federal prison; the misdemeanor unlawful-voting charge carries up to one year. The department stressed that the filings are accusations: every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and no one had entered a plea at the time of the announcement.

Some defendants are also accused of concealing their voting history while seeking U.S. citizenship — allegedly lying on naturalization paperwork about whether they had ever claimed to be a U.S. citizen or voted unlawfully.

Who was charged

Among the defendants named in court filings and news reports:

  • Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, a Belizean national living in Commerce, Los Angeles County, was arrested Monday. Authorities allege he falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in September 2019, then voted in the 2020, 2022 and 2024 elections, and made false statements about his citizenship claim during the naturalization process.
  • Amandeep Kaur, 30, of Rancho Palos Verdes, who is seeking U.S. citizenship, allegedly registered fraudulently in December 2022 and voted in the November 2024 general election. She faces a felony charge.
  • Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, of Sacramento, allegedly registered on Election Day in November 2024 and cast a ballot the same day. He is charged with voting by a noncitizen in a federal election, a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison.
  • Giezell Viduya Adawag, 41, of Vacaville, made her first federal court appearance Monday after being charged with registering and voting in November 2024 while falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen. She was released on her own recognizance.
  • Juan Antonio Rivas García, 46, of Sacramento, is accused of falsely claiming citizenship when registering in 2018 and 2020 and casting ballots in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Cases were filed by all four of California's U.S. attorney's offices: 13 in the Central District covering the Los Angeles area, six in the Eastern District, five in the Northern District and four in the Southern District.

Inside "Operation Protect the Vote"

The sweep was a joint effort by Homeland Security Investigations agents and the FBI. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced the operation on X at 11:19 a.m. ET on Monday, writing that "American elections are for Americans" and pledging to "continue to root out voter fraud all across America." FBI Director Kash Patel followed minutes later, saying protecting American elections from criminal interference "remains a top priority" of the bureau.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said the department would keep pursuing alleged illegal voting cases: "This Department of Justice will not look the other way while non-citizens vote in federal elections."

The cases form part of a wider federal crackdown on alleged electoral misconduct. Before Monday's announcement, the Justice Department had charged roughly 90 people with various election-related offenses this year, including about 50 accused of voting as noncitizens.

The 20,000-name list and the fight over California ballots

The criminal cases landed four days after the Justice Department sued California in federal court, demanding the state segregate and set aside ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the government identifies as "likely noncitizens" until their citizenship can be verified. Federal officials gave California election administrators 48 hours to confirm the citizenship status of everyone on the list, threatening to have those ballots excluded from the count.

Acting Deputy Attorney General McCotter said all 28 criminal defendants appeared on that 20,000-name list — roughly 0.14% of it.

The list itself is contested. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber called the Justice Department's demands "outrageous," noting that the Department of Homeland Security initially claimed 190,000 registered voters in the state "may be" noncitizens, then revised the figure down to 20,000 without disclosing details of its data or methodology. Weber argued the federal demands violate federal election law that prohibits systematic voter-roll purges close to a federal election.

McCotter himself acknowledged the list may contain errors: "There may be some names on there who, it turns out, ultimately are citizens." Election experts have warned that aggressive enforcement built on an imperfect list could sweep up eligible citizens and remove their ballots from the count.

Reactions: a political fault line

The crackdown has split sharply along partisan lines. Democrats and voting-rights groups characterize the operation as an attempt to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the coming midterms, arguing that the scale of the criminal cases — 28 people, most accused of individual unlawful votes — does not match the sweeping remedy of segregating 20,000 ballots. They also note that noncitizen voting in federal elections is already a federal crime, and that studies and audits have repeatedly found it to be extremely rare.

Administration officials counter that any noncitizen voting undermines public confidence and that the arrests demonstrate enforcement works. The Justice Department's posture is part of a broader election-integrity agenda that also includes a separate DOJ denaturalization push and stepped-up federal scrutiny of state voter rolls.

Why this matters 15 days before the midterms

With the November 3 midterms two weeks away, both parties are framing election administration itself as a campaign issue. Federal law already bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections — a point both sides cite: supporters of the crackdown say the law must be enforced, while critics say the rarity of violations shows the system works and that last-minute purges risk disenfranchising citizens. For voters trying to follow the story, a refresher on how voting works in U.S. federal elections — including registration, eligibility checks and ballot counting — helps separate the criminal cases from the broader legal fight.

The episode also lands amid heightened election-security warnings ahead of the midterms, as federal agencies caution voters about scams and interference targeting the vote.

What happens next

The 11 arrested defendants will face initial court proceedings in the coming days, while the remaining 17 are expected to surrender or be taken into custody. The parallel federal lawsuit seeking to segregate 20,000 California ballots is the higher-stakes legal battle: if the courts side with the Justice Department, it could reshape how ballots are counted in the nation's most populous state on Election Day. California has signaled it will fight the demand, setting up a courtroom confrontation over federal authority, voter-roll accuracy and the rules that govern elections in their final stretch.

The enforcement drive has already hit a legal wall: a federal judge has blocked DHS voter fraud field operations in nine states over flawed data.

The courts are reshaping detention policy in parallel: an appeals court has ruled that detained immigrants have no constitutional right to bond hearings.