Justice De­partment charges more than 2 dozen in Cal­i­fornia sweep targeting nonci­tizen voters – Spectrum News

Justice De­partment charges more than 2 dozen in Cal­i­fornia sweep targeting nonci­tizen voters  Spectrum News

Among the dozens of people arrested was a 72-year-old Belize-born man who is accused of voting illegally in four elections. LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities charged more than two dozen foreign nationals Monday in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say have illegally registered or voted in U.S. elections. The arrests are part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of next month's midterm elections, even though data shows that the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races. Federal officials on Monday blamed California officials for the alleged crimes, accusing them of facilitating noncitizen voting through inadequate voter roll maintenance and hiding it from the public.

The charges escalated a simmering voter roll fight that came into focus last week when the Justice Department sued California and warned that local election workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by noncitizen voters are at risk of investigation and potential prosecution. The Justice Department said the 28 people who were charged as part of a sweep dubbed Operation Protect the Vote are lawful permanent residents — but not U.S. citizens who are permitted to legally vote. They are charged with crimes including making false statements on a naturalization application and submitting