Operation Protect the Vote: DOJ Charges Green Card Holders

Federal prosecutors charged 28 people in California on Monday with voting and registration crimes, accusing the defendants, all lawful permanent residents, of illegally registering and casting ballots in American elections. Eleven of the defendants were arrested Monday morning in a coordinated statewide sweep the Justice Department calls Operation Protect the Vote, and officials said the rest would be taken into custody in the coming days. Many of the people charged had voted in past elections, including the most recent presidential election, according to the Justice Department. USA Today reported that the charges are part of a coordinated effort by California's four U.S. attorneys' offices.

All of the defendants are green card holders: they can live and work in the United States but cannot legally vote in federal elections. The charges include voting as a noncitizen, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to register or vote, and knowingly depriving California residents of a fair election, said Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general. Some defendants also face charges of making false statements on naturalization applications and submitting fraudulent voter registrations. At a news conference in Los Angeles, McCotter said the conduct "causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens," the Associated Press reported. Operation Protect the Vote is being prosecuted as a joint effort across the state's four federal districts, with thirteen cases filed in the Central District around Los Angeles.

The defendants were drawn from a list of 20,000 California voters the Justice Department alleges are likely noncitizens, a roster federal officials sent to the state last week. Days before the charges were announced, the department sued California and asked a federal judge to stop the state from counting mail ballots from people on the list until their citizenship could be verified, the Associated Press reported. Federal officials also warned local election workers last week that those who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by noncitizen voters risk investigation and prosecution. The legal fight is unfolding while early voting is already underway in the state.

The national picture goes well beyond California

The California sweep is the latest move in a wider campaign. Federal officials said 113 foreign nationals have been charged with illegal voting and registration offenses across twenty states in the last seven weeks, and thousands more cases are under investigation. The most serious charges in the California cases are felonies carrying up to five years in prison; the misdemeanor voting charge carries up to one year. Prosecutors allege most of the defendants cast ballots in past elections, and every defendant is presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise. No pleas have been entered. Operation Protect the Vote is the California branch of that national effort, and the administration has signaled more cases are coming.

One of the defendants arrested Monday morning is Omar Alexander Munoz, a 72-year-old Belizean national from the city of Commerce. Homeland Security Investigations agents took Munoz into custody at his home around dawn after calling for him to come outside. Investigators allege he falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when he registered to vote in September 2019, then voted in the 2020 election, twice in 2022, and again in 2024. He also faces a felony charge for lying under oath on his naturalization application by stating he had never claimed to be a U.S. citizen, the Washington Examiner reported. Munoz's arrest was among the first carried out under Operation Protect the Vote.

The pushback arrived within hours

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday there is no widespread voter fraud in the state, and that while "one-off" examples are possible, they are "a drop in the bucket" in a state with 23 million registered voters. The Associated Press noted that available data shows noncitizen voting is extremely rare, difficult to prove, and has not been shown to change the outcome of races; more than 154 million Americans cast ballots in the most recent presidential election. State officials framed the arrests, which came fifteen days before Election Day, as an intimidation campaign aimed at voters and election workers. Whether Operation Protect the Vote becomes a lasting deterrent or a one-day show of force, it has already raised the stakes for California's midterms: a disputed voter list now hangs over the state's mail ballots, and local officials face federal scrutiny over whose votes get counted.