Newsom Says Trump “Is Not Screwing Around” as Feds Charge 28 in California Noncitizen Voting Sweep
On Monday, federal prosecutors charged 28 foreign nationals in California in a statewide sweep the Justice Department calls Operation Protect the Vote. The operation sharpens the fight between the Trump administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s voter rolls. According to the Associated Press, the Justice Department says the defendants are lawful permanent residents, not U.S. citizens. They face charges of making false statements on naturalization applications and submitting fraudulent voter registrations. Arrests took place in Commerce, a small city in Los Angeles County, and suspects were processed at the Federal Building in Los Angeles.The arrests came days after the Justice Department sued California and Los Angeles County to stop the counting of mail ballots from about 20,000 people the federal government says are likely noncitizens. Newsom has fired back. “Trump is not screwing around,” he told a rally of New Hampshire Democrats in Exeter on Saturday, according to Democracy Docket. “He’s going after the voting rolls, trying to purge those rolls.”
Details & Background
The dispute began when Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to the California secretary of state and the Los Angeles County clerk. The letters demanded a review of a list of names on a password-protected thumb drive within two days, and asked officials to set aside any returned ballots from people on the list. When California did not comply, the department filed suit on Thursday, October 15. According to ABC News, the Justice Department says it is not seeking a purge or the cancellation of any votes. It is asking a judge to order the state to set aside ballots from people on its list of likely noncitizens. On Friday, McCotter warned local officials that knowingly counting such ballots could expose them to investigation, writing, “The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant.”
