Feds charge 28 California noncitizens with voter fraud ahead of midterm elections

The Trump administration arrested 11 Californians on Monday and filed criminal complaints against 17 others in an operation it says is aimed at rooting out voter fraud in the nation’s most populous state.

The arrests were made amid an ongoing feud between the state and the U.S. Department of Justice over a list of 20,000 registered voters the administration says might not be citizens.

The Republican administration says it is trying to root out voter fraud ahead of next month’s midterm elections, but California’s Democratic leaders say the federal government is trying to sow fear and intimidate voters.

“These 28 defendants are on the list of 20,000 that was sent to California and L.A. County last week as part of our ongoing campaign to enlist California in our efforts to clean up their voter rolls and ensure that only citizens vote,” acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a news conference announcing the charges Monday.

All 28 defendants were legal permanent residents of the United States who had registered to vote in California. Some, but not all, had actually voted, McCotter said.

The arrests came days after the Department of Justice sued California and Los Angeles County, saying they had refused to comply with the federal government’s demand to set aside ballots cast by about 20,000 registered voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

Federal officials announcing the charges and arrests spent most of Monday’s Los Angeles news conference defending their lawsuit and the list of possible noncitizen voters.

The government also filed an emergency motion Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking an order requiring the state to cooperate and set aside the ballots of voters on the list.

The government’s list of voters it believes to be noncitizens — along with its campaign to arrest people named on the list — is also the subject of a federal court hearing Monday in Oakland.

“The government is escalating its operations this morning, using what appears to be the same flawed target lists we challenge in this case, to intimidate people two weeks before election day,” said Beau Tremitiere, lead attorney in the case filed by voting rights groups and the cities of San Francisco and Santa Clara.

Voting rights groups seek court order to halt arrests

Tremitiere’s lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín to bar the administration from targeting and arresting people whose names are on the list. Federal policies generally prohibit agents from conducting such operations in the weeks before an election to avoid intimidating voters, he said.

Six people living in the Central Valley or elsewhere in the federal judicial district that includes Sacramento were cited or arrested on misdemeanor charges, the Department of Justice said. Two live in Sacramento and one in Fresno, according to the department.

The 28 defendants also included 13 people in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, five in the Northern District, which includes San Francisco, and four in the Southern District, which includes San Diego, the Justice Department said.

Some of those charged but not yet arrested as of Monday morning might also be detained, McCotter said.

The defendants face various charges, including lying on immigration documents, falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens to vote and voting as noncitizens. Some face felony charges carrying sentences of up to five years in federal prison, while others face misdemeanor charges, the Justice Department said.

In California, people are asked whether they want to register to vote when obtaining a driver’s license or license plates at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The state previously acknowledged that some people were mistakenly registered to vote through the DMV.

But McCotter said federal law prohibits noncitizens from registering to vote in federal elections, even if they do not cast ballots. People registered through the DMV would still have been asked whether they were citizens, and those who falsely answered yes committed a crime, he said.

The arrests and charges show that the government’s demand for California to review its list of 20,000 potentially noncitizen registered voters is legitimate, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, a former Republican lawmaker who serves as the lead prosecutor in the federal district that includes Los Angeles.

“Today’s arrests prove what we have been saying,” Essayli said. “California is mailing ballots to noncitizens, and they are refusing to comply with federal law, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote.”

Six from the Central Valley charged

Six of the defendants were charged in California’s Eastern District, including two Sacramento residents, a Vacaville resident and three Fresno County residents, according to the Justice Department.

Juan Antonio Rivas García, 46, of Sacramento, was accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in 2018 and 2020. Federal prosecutors alleged that he voted in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, also of Sacramento, was accused of registering to vote and casting a ballot on the day of the November 2024 general election.

Giezell Viduya Adawag, 41, of Vacaville, was accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship when registering to vote on Election Day in November 2024 and casting a ballot that day.

All six Central Valley defendants faced misdemeanor charges of voting as a noncitizen in a federal election, punishable by up to one year in federal prison, the Justice Department said.

This story was originally published October 19, 2026 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Feds charge 28 California noncitizens with voter fraud ahead of midterm elections."