DOJ Charges 48 Noncitizens With Election Crimes; All 28 in California Were on Federal 20,000-Name List
The Justice Department on Monday announced charges involving 48 noncitizens accused of illegal voting, false claims of U.S. citizenship and related election crimes in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and Nevada, eight days before the Nov. 3 election.
A review by The Digital Free Press of the department's case summaries shows that 42 of the 48 are accused of actually casting ballots in U.S. elections. One more is accused of submitting a provisional ballot in 2020. The other five are accused of registering to vote while claiming to be citizens, and of later lying about it in their citizenship paperwork; the summaries do not say they voted.
All 28 California defendants' names appeared on the federal government's list of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters, Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, told The Digital Free Press on Monday. That is the list at the center of the Justice Department's lawsuit asking California to set aside mail ballots before the Nov. 3 election.
McEvoy said 18 of the California defendants have been arrested and made initial appearances in federal courts across the state, and that the others will surrender. "We're looking for others still," he said. The Los Angeles defendants who have appeared in court will be arraigned on Nov. 16 and Nov. 24, he said.
All of the defendants are charged, not convicted. A complaint, indictment or information contains only accusations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Where the Cases Are
California accounts for 28 of the 48 cases, filed under "Operation Protect the Vote," a joint effort of the state's four U.S. Attorney's offices: 13 in the Central District, six in the Eastern District, five in the Northern District and four in the Southern District. Pennsylvania has nine (four in the Eastern District and five in the Middle District), Florida's Middle District has six, New York has four (three in Brooklyn's Eastern District and one in the Northern District) and Nevada has one.
Each of the 48 cases was first announced by the individual U.S. Attorney's offices between Oct. 19 and Oct. 23. Monday's release brings them together in one national announcement.
Who the 48 Noncitizens Are
Forty-seven of the 48 are lawful permanent residents, or green-card holders, who live in the country legally but are not allowed to vote in federal elections. The department describes one, Alfredo Santiesteban, 73, of Philadelphia, as an illegal alien from Cuba.
The defendants come from more than 20 countries. Mexico is the most common, with nine, all in California.
More than 30 of the 48 are accused of voting in 2024, most in the November 2024 general election. The most recent vote cited is a June 2026 primary: Camilo Giles Jiménez, 51, a Mexican national from Kerman, California (spelled "Camino" in the department's release), is accused of voting by mail in the March 2024 primary, the November 2024 general election and the June 2, 2026 primary in Fresno County, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint says he admitted to agents that he registered to vote after receiving his green card, knowing he was not a citizen. Maricela Nazarín González, 43, of Clovis, California, is accused of voting in 2022, twice in 2024 and again in 2025.
Two Eastern District of California defendants, Giezell Viduya Adawag, 41, of Vacaville, and Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, of Sacramento, are accused of registering to vote on the day of the November 2024 general election, falsely claiming citizenship, and voting that same day.
The oldest registration in the case summaries dates to 2002.
Lies on Citizenship Applications
In California, at least 20 of the defendants are accused of lying about their voting history on applications to become naturalized citizens, saying under oath that they had never claimed U.S. citizenship, registered or voted. One Central District defendant, Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, of Commerce, is accused of registering in 2019 and voting in 2020, twice in 2022 and in 2024.
In Brooklyn, all three defendants admitted in voluntary interviews with federal agents that they were not citizens and had voted in the November 2024 election, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Each is accused of submitting a false voter registration application to the New York City Board of Elections.
The six Florida cases were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations together with the Florida Department of State's Office of Election Crimes and the Hernando County Supervisor of Elections, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida said.
What the Court Filings Say
The charging documents, which the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles provided to The Digital Free Press, show how several of the California cases were built. Each is a sworn affidavit by a federal agent and contains allegations only.
In Muñoz's case, Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles received a referral in August 2026 flagging him as someone who may have registered or voted, the complaint says. In September, agents obtained his registration and voting records from the Los Angeles County Registrar, which show a 2019 registration with the "I am a U.S. citizen" box checked, an in-person vote in November 2020 and mail-in votes in 2022 and 2024. The complaint says he later answered "No" on his citizenship application when asked whether he had ever registered or voted.
In San Diego, two defendants were questioned by federal agents in the same building right after their citizenship interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Oct. 15, according to the complaints. Jennifer Jung, 31, a Canadian citizen, denied under oath ever registering or voting. Agents then showed her a California voter registration form submitted online in October 2023, with a signature attesting she was a citizen; she said the signature "looks like it," the complaint says. Agents also cite a mail ballot envelope in her name signed Nov. 5, 2024. Another defendant, Pamele Arbués Line, 56, admitted she had voted but said she had tried to withdraw it, according to her complaint.
In Northern California, the complaint against Verónica Bullene, 43, says she marked "No" to U.S. citizenship on a Department of Motor Vehicles application on Nov. 4, 2022. Four days later, on Election Day, she filled out a same-day voter registration form in Humboldt County saying she was a citizen, and voted, the complaint says.
Details That Do Not Match
Some of the Pennsylvania details in Monday's national release differ from the joint release the Eastern and Middle District U.S. Attorney's offices issued on Oct. 23.
The national release says Inna Henry, 52, of Harrisburg, voted in 2022; the Oct. 23 release says she voted in the 2022 and 2024 general elections. The national release says Joyce Pitts, 80, of Effort, voted in 2022; the Oct. 23 release says 2024. The national release also describes the 2022 votes it lists for Pitts and Nourten Kuruju, 64, of Luzerne, as votes in an election for President and Vice President. There was no presidential election in 2022.
The Middle District's charging documents, which its press office provided to The Digital Free Press, match the Oct. 23 version for Henry and Pitts. They say Henry voted in Dauphin County on Nov. 8, 2022, and again on Nov. 5, 2024, and that Pitts voted in Monroe County on or about Nov. 4, 2024. The charging document for Kuruju says she voted in Luzerne County on Nov. 8, 2022, in an election held in part to elect a "President, Vice President, United States Senator, and Member of the House of Representatives," the same wording that appears in Monday's national release.
The Oct. 23 release identifies Santiesteban as "a citizen of Cuba" and does not describe his immigration status, and the charging document filed Oct. 20 calls him "an alien" who voted in Philadelphia on Nov. 5, 2024. The Digital Free Press asked the Justice Department about the differences; it had not responded by publication.
What the Law Says
It is a federal crime for a noncitizen to vote in an election for President, Vice President or Congress under 18 U.S.C. 611, punishable by up to one year in prison. Falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register to vote or to vote is a separate felony under 18 U.S.C. 1015(f), punishable by up to five years. In California, the charges also include false statements in naturalization applications, which the U.S. Attorney's offices said carry up to five years. Under federal immigration law, a noncitizen who votes unlawfully can also be deported.
A Series of Announcements
Monday's announcement follows similar Justice Department releases on Sept. 28 (12 people), Oct. 5 (16), Oct. 12 (16) and Oct. 16 (16). When the California cases were announced on Oct. 19, the department said it had charged 113 people in 20 states with illegal voting and illegal registration offenses over the previous seven weeks, the Associated Press reported.
The charges also come as the department is in court with California. On Oct. 15, the United States sued the state after saying it had identified more than 20,000 people it believes are likely noncitizens who were sent vote-by-mail ballots, and it asked a court to keep those ballots from being counted until citizenship is confirmed.
"State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," Attorney General Todd Blanche said when the suit was filed.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the department's demand gave her office 48 hours to act on a list it had not been given. "California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the State's voter rolls," she said.
California and Los Angeles County have challenged the reliability of the federal list. A lawyer for the county told the appeals court on Sunday that the list is unreliable and that setting the ballots aside would effectively disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters, the Associated Press reported.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the ballot dispute on Sunday, and two of the judges appeared skeptical of the government's request, the Associated Press reported. The district judge in the case had scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, Oct. 27.
In New York, First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III of the Northern District said after the Syracuse arrest: "Voter fraud is rampant in New York State. New York State must fix the problem and implement voter identification."
The Digital Free Press reached out to the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania and the California Secretary of State's office for comment on Oct. 26. The Central District of California office responded with the statement and documents described above and declined further comment. Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney's Offices in the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania said they had no comment beyond the press releases and charging documents. The Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs and the California Secretary of State's office had not responded by publication.
Images: Mail ballot and ballot box in Sonoma, California (file photo), Sarah Stierch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, APK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, "Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 48 Aliens for Election-Related Crimes," Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-48-aliens-election-related-crimes ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, "11 Foreign Nationals Arrested in California on Federal Charges Alleging They Illegally Registered and Voted in U.S. Elections," Oct. 19, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/11-foreign-nationals-arrested-california-federal-charges-alleging-they-illegally ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California, "Justice Department Charges 28 Foreign Nationals in California for Election Crimes," Oct. 19, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/justice-department-charges-28-foreign-nationals-california-election-crimes ; U.S. Attorney's Offices, Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, "Nine Pennsylvania Non-Citizens Charged with Illegally Voting," Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/nine-pennsylvania-non-citizens-charged-illegally-voting ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, "Six Aliens Charged for Falsely Claiming United States' Citizenship to Vote and/or Illegally Voting in 2022 and 2024 Elections," Oct. 22, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/six-aliens-charged-falsely-claiming-united-states-citizenship-vote-andor-illegally ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, "Three Defendants Charged with Offenses for Voting as Non-Citizens," Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/three-defendants-charged-offenses-voting-non-citizens ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York, Oct. 22, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/syracuse-woman-and-german-national-arrested-voter-fraud ; U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Nevada, "Alien Charged for Illegal Voting," Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nv/pr/alien-charged-illegal-voting ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, "United States Sues California After Determining More Than 20,000 Likely Noncitizens Are Registered to Vote," Oct. 15, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/united-states-sues-california-after-determining-more-20000-likely-noncitizens-are ; California Secretary of State, statement on U.S. Department of Justice letter, Oct. 2026: https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2026-news-releases-and-advisories/california-secretary-state-shirley-n-weber-phd-issues-statement-response-us-department-justice-letter ; Associated Press, "Justice Department charges more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen voters," Oct. 19, 2026: https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/elections/2026/justice-department-charges-more-than-2-dozen-in-california-sweep-targeting-alleged-noncitizen-voters/ ; Associated Press via KCRA, "9th Circuit questions DOJ demand to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots," Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.kcra.com/article/california-9th-circuit-doj-20000-mail-in-ballots/74248135 ; U.S. Department of Justice releases of Sept. 28, Oct. 5, Oct. 12 and Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-and-guilty-pleas-involving-12-individuals-election ; https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-16-aliens-election-crimes ; https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-16-individuals-election-crimes ; https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-16-aliens-illegal-voting ; Criminal complaints in U.S. v. Muñoz (C.D. Cal.), U.S. v. Giles Jiménez (E.D. Cal.), U.S. v. Bullene (N.D. Cal.), U.S. v. Jung, U.S. v. Line and U.S. v. Soto (S.D. Cal.), and the information in U.S. v. Shah (E.D. Cal.), provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Oct. 26, 2026 ; Statement from Ciaran McEvoy, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, to The Digital Free Press, Oct. 26, 2026 ; Information in U.S. v. Santiesteban, No. 2:26-cr-00527 (E.D. Pa.), filed Oct. 20, 2026, provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ; Informations in U.S. v. Henry, No. 1:26-cr-00246, U.S. v. Pitts, No. 3:26-cr-00250, and U.S. v. Kuruju (M.D. Pa.), filed Oct. 15, 2026, provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ; 18 U.S.C. 611: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/611 ; 18 U.S.C. 1015: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1015 ; Congressional Research Service, "Immigration Consequences of Unlawful Voting by Aliens": https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12767
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