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DOJ Demands California Counties Verify Noncitizen Voters
· Confirmed
In Short: The Trump administration's demand for California to verify noncitizen voters is part of a broader effort to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday, demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Justice Department believes may belong to noncitizens. The letters were sent to 57 of California’s 58 counties, signaling an escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to prevent the state from counting ballots from voters identified as likely noncitizens.
According to the L.A. County registrar's office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. County officials have been given a 48-hour deadline to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent letters to all 50 states in July, threatening to take criminal action if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to remain on their voter rolls. The letters request that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against California, aiming to block the state from counting votes of more than 20,000 people who it alleges are likely noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday, with the Trump administration asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the lawsuit.
Federal investigators have flagged more than 20,000 California registrants they believe are likely noncitizens, a number the DOJ says will probably climb. The department has requested complete, unredacted voter-registration lists from 49 states plus Washington, D.C., and has brought voter-data lawsuits against 30 jurisdictions, including D.C. and California.
Attorney Bilal Essayli notes that his office is providing a list of 1,133 names of “likely aliens.” “Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not,” Essayli wrote.
According to Fox News, the October list is unreliable: 112 of the 200 records correspond to registrations that are canceled or inactive. Additionally, 38.9% of the voters where birthplace was meaningfully reported indicate they were born in the United States, which is strong evidence of citizenship; and 71.2% of the records have no voting history.
Los Angeles election officials told a federal court that they have no independent way to verify citizenship beyond what voters pinky-promise, and certainly no way to do it within this election period. The state could participate in the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program (SAVE) which has been around since the 1980s, if the state wanted to verify citizenship.
The Trump administration has charged 28 noncitizens, all lawful permanent residents, accused of illegally registering to vote or voting, including a 72-year-old Belize-born man accused of casting ballots in four elections.
The DOJ has requested that election workers segregate ballots from their envelopes to identify individual voters before they are counted, arguing that once the votes are mixed in, there may be no way to undo it.
The Trump administration's demand for California to verify noncitizen voters is part of a broader effort to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections. This includes the Justice Department's request for voter-registration lists from states and jurisdictions, and the filing of lawsuits against those that do not comply.
The conflicting reports from Fox News and the Department of Justice highlight the complexity and uncertainty surrounding the issue of noncitizen voting. While the DOJ claims to have identified thousands of likely noncitizens, the reliability of these lists is disputed by some legal experts.
Background
The Justice Department is threatening legal action against California if it does not review a list of alleged noncitizens on voter rolls within 48 hours, according to a letter sent by Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter.
What's confirmed
- Los Angeles election officials just told a federal court that they have no independent way to verify citizenship beyond what voters pinky-promise, and certainly no way to do it within this election period.
What's still developing
- Then, on the heels of that revelation, the snarky wannabe president Gavin Newscum took a break from saying “literally” every two sentences, flirting with his staff, and pandering to black people by pretending he can’t read, to admit that yes, noncitizen voter registration and voting does happen.
- The Department of Justice announces voting crime charges against 28 foreign nationals in California, alleging some voted illegally multiple times.
- “It’s an emergency, and we expect the courts to treat it as such.” The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.
- "Bonta's claim that mail voting in California is 'safe and secure' when the state has no ID requirement, refuses to verify the citizenship of registered voters and has one of the most inaccurate, mistake-ridden voter registration lists in the country is laughable," (The Center Square) - California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking to reassure voters that the Nov. 3 general election will proceed as "business as usual," while drawing a hard line against potential federal intervention and election interference.
- "Will they follow the law or not of their own accord based on what they've done so far, where we've had to take them to court 97 times when they've broken the law? I doubt it, but that's what regulators are for."
- "President Trump wants to send armed federal agents into polling places this election," Orlando Economos, senior staff attorney at Democracy Forward, said in a Sept. 30 video post on X.
- "California adheres to Federal Law passed by Congress in the 1990s [see 52 U.S.C. 20504(c)(2) (Section 5 of the NVRA)] May want to brush up on your election law before tweeting. Perhaps Second Assistant is more apt from now on?"