Justice Department Charges 28 Green-Card Holders, Defendants Say They Never Knew
The U.S. Department of Justice on Oct. 19 charged 28 lawful permanent residents in California with federal election crimes, including fraudulent voter registration and false statements in naturalization applications, as part of Operation Protect the Vote coordinated by all four California-based U.S. Attorney's Offices. Federal agents arrested 11 defendants on Oct. 19 and filed criminal complaints against 17 others. Prosecutors said the defendants knowingly lied under oath that they were U.S. citizens on registration forms, obtained approval, voted illegally in recent elections, then denied ever claiming citizenship, registering or voting on citizenship paperwork. The cases arrive as California has more than 23 million registered voters, making the 28 cases about 0.0001 percent of the rolls.
At the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, four defendants made initial appearances and reacted with shock, confusion and anger. Ana Dominguez, 60, a native of El Salvador living in Long Beach as a lawful permanent resident since the late 1980s, is accused of fraudulently registering in July 2006 and lying about it in naturalization paperwork submitted in March 2026. She had applied for citizenship earlier this year and was awaiting her ceremony when agents arrested her as she was leaving for work as an administrative assistant. Wiping away tears and showing bruises from handcuffs, she said she had no memory of registering and had never voted, asking why she would have waited decades to vote if she had schemed since 2006. Omar Munoz, 72, a lawful permanent resident from Belize living in Commerce, was accused of registering in September 2019 and voting in 2020, twice in 2022 and again in 2024. He shuffled into court shackled at the waist, feet cuffed, still in red and black pajama pants. Jose Antonio Banuelos-Diaz, 42, a Mexican national from West Adams, appeared in a landscaping reflective vest, jeans and boots with the American flag.
Federal officials framed the operation as proof of systemic failure. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said California is mailing ballots to noncitizens and refusing to comply with federal law barring noncitizen voting, adding the arrests protect American citizens' votes. The Department said it sent California officials a list of more than 20,000 people it believes are likely noncitizens who were sent mail ballots, asked that ballots be set aside pending citizenship checks, and was declined. It sued the state and top election officials for Los Angeles County and the state, and sought an emergency temporary restraining order to withhold ballots tied to the 20,000 ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. Essayli said the Department in the last seven weeks alone has charged 113 people across 20 states with illegal voting or registration and is pursuing thousands of similar cases nationwide. Fraudulent registration and false naturalization statements each carry a maximum of five years in prison.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, defending the state against the federal lawsuit, said illegal voting is wrong and one-off, isolated incidents should be prosecuted, but denied widespread fraud. He called 28 out of 23 million a drop in the bucket, numerically 0.0001 percent. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the lawsuit a desperate attempt by a politicized Justice Department to suppress California voters three weeks before Election Day, saying courts have made clear the federal government has no role in how a state runs elections. Other Democrats echoed that isolated cases occur in red and blue states alike. Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA, said there is only a crime if the government can prove willful violations, noting many noncitizen registrations stem from administrative error or confusion.
Those most affected are the 28 green-card holders. As noncitizens they cannot vote, and convictions could bring prison time, denial of naturalization and removal proceedings. About 3 p.m. on Oct. 19, the four defendants in downtown Los Angeles were released on personal recognizance without supervision, hugged by family members in the hallway. They are set for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 9. The broader stakes are California's mail-ballot system. If the court grants the restraining order, ballots tied to more than 20,000 voters would be withheld. Of the 28, prosecutors said 22 are accused of voting in at least one election including the June primary, five only registered, and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020. What comes next turns on whether the ballot hold is granted, whether Nov. 9 hearings produce indictments, and whether Operation Protect the Vote expands.