US Justice Department Announces 28 California Arrests in Voter Registration Crackdown

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had made 28 arrests across California under what it calls "Operation Protect the Vote." According to the report, all of those arrested were foreign nationals and permanent green card holders. They were charged with fraudulently registering to vote in US elections and making false statements in a naturalization application.

The Department said that on Oct. 13 it gave California Secretary of State Shirley Weber a list of 20,000 registered voters it claims are ineligible based on federal records. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said each of the 28 defendants appears on that list, and argued California must verify the citizenship of those registrants before mail-in ballots are counted. CyberScoop reports that the arrests, together with official comments, show the federal government is willing to act on earlier threats to investigate or prosecute more than 190,000 California voters the administration describes as "potential" noncitizens.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations are "actively rooting out and investigating" alleged voter fraud. The report frames the raids as part of the Trump administration's wider push for administrative control of US elections. This summary covers only the opening of the original article.