The U.S. Justice Department on Monday charged 28 legal permanent residents in California with election-related crimes, including registering to vote and in some cases voting as noncitizens.
At least 11 people were arrested Monday morning and the rest were charged by complaint, officials said at a Los Angeles news conference. The cases span all four federal districts in California. Some face felony charges carrying up to five years in prison; others face misdemeanors.
“These 28 defendants are on the list of 20,000 that was sent to California and L.A. County last week,” acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The charges come days after the department sued California and Los Angeles County to set aside ballots cast by voters on that list. State Democratic leaders say the federal effort is meant to intimidate voters. California has acknowledged that some people were mistakenly registered through the DMV.
The Justice Department has charged about 90 people this year with election-related misconduct, including about 50 accused of voting as noncitizens. Research in multiple states has found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, Sacramento Bee, ABC7 Los Angeles. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Sdkb / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
