Operation Protect the Vote: Federal Prosecutors Charge 28 Lawful Permanent Residents in California and Arrest 11; DOJ Says All Are on Its List of More Than 20,000

On Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 (arrest date), federal law enforcement “throughout California today arrested 11 foreign nationals,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California; the Justice Department’s companion release puts them “among 28 total charged” in criminal complaints. The releases call this “Operation Protect the Vote,” a coordinated effort among all four California-based U.S. Attorney’s Offices. They say all “28 foreign nationals charged are lawful permanent residents” (green-card holders). The charges, the release says, include “making false statements in a naturalization application,” with some defendants also charged with “fraudulent voter registration,” felonies carrying a statutory maximum of five years. Eastern District defendants are charged with “voting by an alien in a federal election, a misdemeanor” (one-year maximum); Northern District defendants with “attempted procurement of naturalization contrary to law” among other counts; Southern District defendants with “false claim to citizenship to vote” among other counts. The release alleges that “in many cases, the defendants illegally voted in recent U.S. elections.” Its per-defendant descriptions, by our own count, allege that 22 of the 28 defendants cast a ballot, the same count Democracy Docket reached; the rest are described by registration or naturalization statements alone, and one Central District defendant “submitted a provisional ballot in 2020” without the release saying it was counted. The release does not identify the election type for many of the alleged votes, so a general-election tally depends on assumptions: Democracy Docket’s “approximately 25 to 27 allegedly illegal votes” is its own estimate after “giving DOJ the maximum plausible benefit of the doubt” (its words), not a DOJ figure, and the votes DOJ itself labels as general or November elections are fewer. The release does not say which defendants were arrested. The release adds that the complaints “merely contain allegations” and that the defendants are presumed innocent. This entry does not name the defendants.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said in the release that each of the 28 “defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week” and that “California refused to look at that list.” The release says the federal government provided the list to California on October 13. Democracy Docket, reporting that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a press release that 11 were arrested and 28 charged, sets the 28 against California’s 23 million registered voters. Same day, in the California ballot case: 2026-10-19–doj-seeks-tro-us-v-california-sworn-dhs-declarations-describe-how-20000-voter-list-was-built. Earlier steps: 2026-10-13–doj-letters-give-california-48-hours-on-likely-noncitizen-list-demand-la-county-segregate-ballots, 2026-10-15–doj-sues-california-weber-la-county-logan-cd-cal-2-26-cv-12025-block-tabulating-ballots-of-20000-flagged-voters.