Three Fresno County Residents Charged With Voting Without Citizenship
Federal officials charged three Fresno County residents Monday with voting in elections despite not being United States citizens, part of a 28-person sweep across California.
All 28 people facing federal charges are green card holders — legally in the country but not authorized to vote. The three Fresno County residents charged are Maricela Gonzalez, Rony Sicaja, and Camino Jimenez.
The charges follow the U.S. Department of Justice requesting California’s help verifying the citizenship of more than 20,000 registered voters who have been mailed ballots. The Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters said it has been made aware of the charges but has not been contacted directly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Breakdown
- Three Fresno County residents — Maricela Gonzalez, Rony Sicaja, and Camino Jimenez — face federal charges for voting without citizenship.
- All 28 people charged across California hold green cards, which grant legal immigration status but not voting rights.
- The charges come after DOJ asked California to verify citizenship for over 20,000 registered voters already mailed ballots.
- Fresno County’s elections office has not been contacted directly by federal prosecutors about the local cases.
What This Means for You
The charges and the separate 20,000-name verification request indicate federal officials have identified cases of noncitizen voting in California, though the sources available do not detail how registration occurred or how many ineligible voters may be on Fresno County’s rolls.
What to Watch
The available information names the three Fresno County residents charged but gives no detail about when they voted, in which elections, how they registered, or whether their votes were counted. Without that, the actual scale of the problem in Fresno County remains unclear.
The DOJ’s 20,000-name verification request is itself a major unanswered question. The sources do not explain what criteria DOJ used to generate the list or how many of the 20,000 names have been confirmed as actually ineligible after review.
