Federal prosecutors announced Monday that 28 green-card holders in California had been charged with election-related crimes, with 11 arrested so far, prompting a swift rebuke from state Attorney General Rob Bonta.
All 28 are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. Six of the defendants are Bay Area residents who have been “charged with attempted procurement of naturalization contrary to law, false statement under oath in any matter relating to naturalization or citizenship, and voting by an alien,” according to a news release Monday from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Of the six, one is a Mexican national living in Petaluma, one is Georgian living in San Jose, one is Burmese living in Daly City, one is Tongan living in Hayward, one is from the Philippines living in Vacaville and one is Ecuadoran in San Francisco, according to federal officials.
“California is mailing ballots to noncitizens, and they are refusing to comply with federal law, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote. The voting rights of American citizens must be protected.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli
The rest were picked up in cities all over the state, including Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, San Diego and Anaheim, among other places.
“Today’s arrests prove what we have been saying,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a news release. “California is mailing ballots to noncitizens, and they are refusing to comply with federal law, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote. The voting rights of American citizens must be protected.”
Federal prosecutors also said they’ve filed a lawsuit to force California to comply with a request to verify the citizenship of more than 20,000 voters on a list of “likely noncitizens” before mail-in ballots are counted.
Bonta: ‘No widespread voter fraud’
California Attorney General Rob Bonta was asked about the arrests during a news conference in San Francisco focused on the state’s efforts to combat cryptocurrency scams.
Bonta said that while voter fraud is serious, the number of arrests announced Monday represents roughly .0001% of the state’s more than 23 million registered voters and that the arrests aren’t evidence of widespread voter fraud, even if the allegations turn out to be true.
“I think the announcement today by the United States DOJ makes the point that there is no widespread voter fraud, but when there are isolated incidents, one-off incidents of voter fraud, those are wrong, those are illegal, and those individuals should be held accountable,” Bonta said.
Bonta also said the DOJ’s list of “likely noncitizens” doesn’t include any evidence to support the federal government’s suspicions.
“They’re not saying that we have visible proof. They’re not even saying that we know,” Bonta said. “They’re not even saying we think we have. They’re saying we believe it’s likely.”
He said the last time federal prosecutors made a similar claim was when they thought there were 16,000 ineligible voters in Nevada but were unable to substantiate a single case of voter fraud.
“We are not impressed by their case. We are not impressed by their position,” Bonta said. “We believe their case is meritless and will make our position very clear in court.”
