Federal Agents Arrest 28 Green Card Holders in California on Voter-Fraud Charges — Defendants Say They Never Registered — AI-generated illustration

Federal Agents Arrest 28 Green Card Holders in California on Voter-Fraud Charges — Defendants Say They Never Registered

October 20, 2026 Maren Castillo

Federal agents arrested 28 lawful permanent residents across California on Monday, charging them with illegally registering to vote and, in some cases, casting ballots in federal elections. The arrests — part of what the Justice Department calls “Operation Protect the Vote” — came the same day DOJ officials announced a lawsuit demanding California stop counting roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots the administration claims were sent to likely noncitizens.

Several of those arrested said in court appearances Monday they had no memory of ever registering to vote, as prosecutors accused them of doing. Ana Domínguez, 60, a Long Beach resident arrested for allegedly registering in 2006 and lying about it on her 2026 naturalization paperwork, said through tears outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse: “I never, ever in my entire life … thought this would ever happen to me.”

She showed bruises on her wrists from the handcuffs and said the charges made no sense. “If I would have committed all those frauds about voting registration and whatever they’re saying, since 2006, wouldn’t you imagine that I would have been voting all these other years?” she asked. Federal prosecutors’ own visual presentation showed Domínguez was not among the 21 defendants they alleged had actually voted.

Another defendant — Omar Muñoz, 72, a Belize native arrested at his Commerce home at 5 a.m. in red-and-black pajama pants — appeared in court shackled at the waist and ankles. His daughter, Lliani Orantes, said federal agents swarmed and cordoned off the block, pulling her father out “like he was a dog” as helicopters circled overhead and media cameras captured the scene.

She said Muñoz, who is recovering from cervical surgery, rotator cuff repair, and a double knee replacement, could have been confused with younger relatives of the same name, including a U.S.-born son who is a registered voter. Muñoz told reporters outside the courthouse he saw helicopters, at least eight cars, and several agents from different agencies descending on his home. “That’s a lot of money. Taxpayers paying for that,” he said. “They could have sent me a letter saying report to the court.”

The 28 people charged are all on a list of more than 20,000 names DOJ sent California last week, demanding the state review and withhold ballots from those it suspects are noncitizens illegally registered to vote. Los Angeles County officials refused to open the thumb drive DOJ delivered — with a password attached on a sticky note — citing data privacy and information security concerns.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a Monday press conference that California “didn’t come back and say, ‘No, you’re wrong. These folks are citizens.’ They didn’t say, ‘Actually, let’s work together and try to figure out whether they’re citizens.’ Instead, L.A. County, in particular, said that they would not even attempt to open the list.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is defending the state and top election officials against the DOJ lawsuit, called the 28 cases a “drop in the bucket” out of 23 million registered voters in California and said he’d be watching how the cases play out in court. “We’ll see what the facts show, and whether they’ll have to drop charges or whether they’ll be able to prosecute,” he said. Bonta said voting illegally is wrong and “one-off, isolated incidents” should be prosecuted, but denied there is widespread voter fraud in the state.

Public records showed at least two individuals who shared the names of defendants were registered to vote as Republicans, two as Democrats, two as supporters of the Peace and Freedom Party, and three with no party preference chosen. Four of the defendants had initial court appearances Monday afternoon; in every case, federal prosecutors said the government was not seeking detention. The magistrate judge ordered all four released on personal recognizance with no supervision required. They are set to appear for a preliminary hearing Nov. 9.

Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, wrote Monday that many instances of noncitizens registering to vote are a result of administrative error or confusion on the part of the immigrant, not intentional criminality. “There is only a crime if the government can prove willful violations of federal law,” Hasen wrote.

He said the government’s blasting out images of Muñoz being arrested was “meant to convey that the problem of noncitizen voting in California is both pervasive and serious, crimes that are undetected by willfully ignorant California election officials.” But the reality, he wrote, “is likely far different,” with voter fraud limited to isolated cases, some with less nefarious intent.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, dismissed the idea that those charged may have been unaware of what they were doing. “You have to go out of your way to register to vote; it’s not something that just happens to you,” Essayli said. He said the cases represent strong federal work to ensure noncitizens aren’t negating the votes of eligible U.S. voters — a problem he said California officials have refused to recognize despite federal authorities providing the proof.

Domínguez said she’s been a lawful permanent resident since the late 1980s and applied for U.S. citizenship earlier this year. As part of the application process, she said she told an immigration agent that the only people registered to vote in her household were her husband, who previously became a U.S. citizen, and her daughter, who was born in the country. Since then, she said, she has just been waiting on the citizenship ceremony, “but it never came through.” Instead, she was arrested Monday when she was about to leave for work as an administrative assistant.

Three other Northern California residents were also charged: Giezell Viduya Adawag, 41, of Vacaville, accused of registering to vote and casting a ballot in November 2024 while falsely claiming U.S. citizenship; Juan Antonio Rivas García, 46, of Sacramento, accused of falsely claiming citizenship when registering in 2018 and 2020 and voting in 2022 and 2024; and Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, of Sacramento, accused of casting a ballot on Election Day in November 2024.

All three defendants are lawful permanent residents, according to the Justice Department. Adawag was released on her own recognizance after her first court appearance Monday. Her attorney, Megan McLoughlin, said, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen this type of charge. It’s really traumatizing and scary to be arrested when the marshals come to your door for any reason.”

The DOJ said the list of 20,000 names was created by cross-referencing publicly available California voter rolls with “other government databases” and “other public information,” then subtracting anyone with evidence of citizenship from State Department records, passport records, Social Security Administration records, and alien files. McCotter said they then manually verified the 20,000 names who “are likely not citizens of the United States on California’s voter rolls.”

The administration’s allegations of noncitizen voting in California have dropped from more than 190,000 in July to now 20,000. In Nevada, the DOJ previously sent officials a list of 185 individuals that DHS said were potential noncitizens on that state’s voter rolls, but Nevada officials determined that everyone on the list was a lawful U.S. citizen.

McCotter said Monday that the DOJ would not rule out prosecuting election workers who are “processing the ballots” in California. “I’m not going to prejudge or pre-announce any sort of criminal case, but this is not an unusual doctrine. The idea that even if you don’t do something yourself illegally, that if you help someone else do it or knowingly help them, that could lead to charges for that person. This is a very well-established legal doctrine, aiding and abetting. It applies to all federal crimes, not just elections,” he said.

Essayli said the DOJ has charged 113 people across 20 states with illegal voting or registration in the last seven weeks and is pursuing thousands of “similar cases” around the nation. More than 150 million people voted in the last presidential election; more than 16 million votes were cast in California.

The Breakdown

Twenty-eight lawful permanent residents (green card holders) were arrested Monday and charged with unlawfully registering to vote and, in 21 cases, casting ballots in federal elections dating back to 2020. Federal prosecutors accused them of lying on naturalization paperwork about their voter-registration history.
The arrests are part of “Operation Protect the Vote,” a DOJ initiative aimed at investigating alleged violations of federal election laws. All 28 people charged are on a list of more than 20,000 names DOJ sent California last week, demanding the state withhold ballots from those it suspects are noncitizens.
Several defendants said in court they had no memory of registering to vote. One defendant, Ana Domínguez, said she never voted and questioned why she would have been charged with fraud “since 2006” if she hadn’t voted in the years since. Federal prosecutors said they were not seeking detention for any of the four defendants who appeared in court Monday; all were released on personal recognizance (meaning they were freed without having to post bail and are trusted to return to court).
California officials refused to open the thumb drive DOJ delivered with the list, citing data privacy and security concerns. Attorney General Rob Bonta called the 28 cases a “drop in the bucket” out of 23 million registered voters and said he’d be watching whether DOJ can prove the charges in court.
The DOJ also filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to stop California from counting the roughly 20,000 ballots it claims were sent to likely noncitizens. On Monday, DOJ officials filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, writing: “This Court should grant the motion. Otherwise, there is a significant risk that American votes will be diluted. Just this morning, the United States charged dozens of noncitizens for election and immigration related crimes.”
The DOJ’s list of suspected noncitizens has dropped from more than 190,000 in July to 20,000 now. In Nevada, a DOJ list of 185 suspected noncitizens on voter rolls was found by state officials to contain only lawful U.S. citizens.

What This Means for You

The Trump administration’s Justice Department arrested 28 lawful permanent residents on voter-fraud charges and sued to stop California from counting roughly 20,000 ballots. Several of the people arrested said they had no memory of registering to vote, and the administration’s own similar list in Nevada turned out to contain only eligible U.S. citizens.

The administration conducted a dawn raid on a 72-year-old man recovering from multiple surgeries, with helicopters and media cameras alerted in advance. The man’s daughter said he was pulled out “like he was a dog” as part of what she called a “political ploy, an example used for the operation.”

The administration has charged 113 people nationwide out of more than 150 million votes cast in the last presidential election. California’s attorney general is defending the state against the lawsuit and says he’ll be watching whether the charges hold up in court.

What to Watch

The November 9 preliminary hearings will be the first real test of whether DOJ can prove these charges. Several defendants said they had no memory of registering to vote, and at least one (Domínguez) was accused of fraud for a 2006 registration but never voted in the years since, according to prosecutors’ own presentation.

UCLA election law expert Rick Hasen says the government must prove “willful violations of federal law” rather than administrative error or confusion. If DOJ can’t meet that standard, these cases may fall apart. The sources give no detail on what record DOJ actually has to back up each registration claim, and the fact that several defendants said they had no idea they were registered raises questions about how carefully the list was verified.

The sources also don’t tell you who built the list DOJ is relying on, how it was cross-checked, or what “other government databases” and “other public information” were used to flag these 20,000 names. The administration’s list dropped from more than 190,000 in July to 20,000 now, and a similar list in Nevada turned out to contain only U.S. citizens. The sources don’t explain what changed, or how many people on this California list are actually citizens whose records weren’t matched correctly.

California refused to open the thumb drive, but the sources don’t say whether DOJ offered to provide the list in a secure format or whether it insisted on the thumb drive as the only option.

DOJ officials said they would not rule out prosecuting election workers who “processed the ballots” of the people on the list, citing the legal doctrine of aiding and abetting. The sources don’t explain what such a prosecution would look like, or what it would take to prove an election worker “knowingly” helped someone vote illegally when the state’s own records showed them as registered.

The dawn raid on Omar Muñoz’s home — with helicopters, at least eight cars, multiple agencies, and media cameras alerted in advance — raises its own question. Muñoz said agents could have sent him a letter to report to court instead. His daughter said her father was pulled out “like he was a dog” as part of what she called a “political ploy, an example used for the operation.” The sources give no way to know whether Muñoz knowingly voted illegally or made a mistake.

Finally, the lawsuit itself: DOJ is asking a federal court to stop California from counting roughly 20,000 ballots it claims were sent to likely noncitizens, based on a list the state refused to review. If DOJ wins, those ballots won’t be counted — even if some or all of the people on the list turn out to be U.S. citizens.