You renew your driver’s license at the DMV, sign a form without reading it carefully, and months later a voter registration card shows up at your home. Does that mean you can vote? In California, thousands of green card holders have lived through that exact scene — and this Monday the federal government put a price on it: 28 permanent residents were charged with federal election crimes, and 11 are already under arrest.
The announcement came Monday, October 19, from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ): an operation called “Protect the Vote,” coordinated across all four California-based U.S. Attorney’s Offices, filed criminal charges against 28 people who, prosecutors say, registered to vote — and in several cases voted — without being U.S. citizens.
The key point: they all had legal residency; none was a citizen
The DOJ itself made it clear in its statement: all 28 are lawful permanent residents (LPRs, “green card” holders). Having legal residency is not the same as being a citizen, and federal law only allows U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.
The charges include:
- Making false statements on a naturalization application (federal felony, up to 5 years in prison): the citizenship form asks whether you ever registered to vote or voted.
- Fraudulent voter registration (federal felony, up to 5 years in prison).
- In California’s Eastern District, additionally, voting by an alien in a federal election (misdemeanor, up to 1 year in prison).
The 11 people arrested Monday made their initial court appearances before federal judges that same afternoon. No pleas have been entered yet: these are charges, not convictions.
The fight isn’t just against the 28: it’s against California
The case comes with a bigger backdrop. On October 13, the federal government gave California the list of these individuals so their vote-by-mail ballots would be set aside until their citizenship could be confirmed. California refused, and the DOJ responded with a federal lawsuit to stop what it calls “the unlawful dilution of American citizens’ votes.”
The Justice Department also filed an emergency request asking a federal judge to stop California from processing the ballots of about 20,000 people on the voter rolls that the federal government describes as “likely noncitizens.” Last week, federal authorities handed that list to Los Angeles County on a flash drive with a 48-hour deadline to investigate it; local officials refused and were sued as well.
“This Department of Justice will not look the other way while noncitizens vote in federal elections,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said Monday at the press conference in Los Angeles.
On the other side, California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded that there is no widespread voter fraud in the state and that these cases are “a drop in the bucket” compared to 23 million registered voters.
And experts urge calm about the numbers: according to the DOJ, 113 noncitizens have been charged in 20 states over the past seven weeks. Some of the 28 in California registered more than 20 years ago, several may never have actually voted, and there is a record of bureaucratic errors: this summer it emerged that a software glitch at the New Jersey DMV registered more than 6,000 people to vote even though they had indicated they were not citizens.
Why this matters to you, even if you live far from California
There are 14 days left until the November 3 elections, and early voting is already underway. This operation sets the tone for what’s coming: the DOJ has said it will keep announcing charges almost daily through Election Day. If you hold a green card — or any immigration status short of citizenship — now is the time to make sure you’re not on any list you shouldn’t be on. A paperwork mistake today can become a federal case tomorrow, and it can ruin your future naturalization.
What to do today, in order
- Verify that you are NOT registered to vote. Go to your state’s official elections website and look up your name. If you hold a green card, TPS, a pending asylum case, or any status that isn’t citizenship, you should not appear on the voter rolls.
- If you appear registered by mistake, request cancellation in writing. It’s the classic DMV case: you got registered when renewing your license without asking for it. Simply “not voting” isn’t enough: formally request removal from the rolls and keep the receipt.
- Never check “I am a U.S. citizen” on a form. Not on voter registration, not on federal job applications, not on any official document. That signed box is exactly what prosecutors use as evidence.
- If you have a naturalization interview coming up and you ever registered or voted, talk to an immigration attorney BEFORE the interview. The citizenship form asks directly whether you ever registered to vote or voted in an election. Lying there is a federal felony; telling the truth without counsel could cost you your residency.
- Share this with your family. Many residents believe in good faith that a green card gives them every right a citizen has. It doesn’t: voting is one of the few rights reserved exclusively for citizens, and exercising it without being one can lead to prison and deportation.
Related links
- November 3, 2026 elections: voter registration guide
- Pew poll: 55% of Latino voters see the November 3 elections as a vote against Trump
- More news
Official sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, October 19, 2026 press release: “Justice Department Charges 28 Foreign Nationals in California for Election Crimes”
- NPR, October 19, 2026: “DOJ charges 28 in California with voting crimes as election tensions escalate” (context and statements)
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