DOJ Asks LA Court To Stop State From Counting Suspected Ineligible Ballots

LOS ANGELES, CA — The U.S. Justice Department Monday filed an emergency notice asking a Los Angeles federal judge to immediately block California election officials from counting the ballots of tens of thousands of people the Trump administration accuses of being non-citizens who illegally registered to vote.

The 11th-hour request for a temporary restraining order escalates the battle between California and the administration over the midterm elections.

"California not just refused to act; it made clear that it is committed to treating ballots from those likely non-citizens equal to ballots from American citizens, prompting this suit and motion that seeks commonplace election relief when ballots are called into question," government prosecutors said in the filing for a TRO in Los Angeles federal court Monday.

A hearing on the motion was not immediately scheduled.

Also Monday, federal law enforcement began arresting people from the list of suspected non-citizens. Justice Department officials said 11 foreign nationals had been arrested throughout the state for alleged federal crimes, including that they fraudulently registered to vote in U.S. elections, electoral contests in which most of them allegedly cast illegal and fraudulently obtained ballots. A total of 28 people have been charged, prosecutors said.

"Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen," Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said in a statement. "Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely non-citizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week. California refused to look at that list. Today's charges show exactly what that refusal puts at risk. California must verify the citizenship of those more than 20,000 registrants before mail-in ballots are counted."

Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend accused President Donald Trump of attempting to rig the election.

"Trump is not screwing around," Newsom said Saturday while speaking in New Hampshire. "We know what he's doing right now. He's doing it all across the country."

The governor, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028, said that Thursday's DOJ lawsuit against California and Los Angeles County was filed "in the middle of voting."

LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn posted on X that the arrests amounted to an attempt at "voter intimidation and a blatant attempt to undermine trust in our midterm elections. These arrests are being used to paint a picture of widespread voter fraud when we know that is not the case. California has laws in place to protect the integrity of our elections, and LA County is fully abiding by them."

Hahn said she urged "everyone not to let these tactics keep you from exercising your right to vote. Vote early and remember that you can safely cast your ballot from home with your vote-by-mail ballot or safely drop your ballot at a ballot drop box."

On Wednesday, the DOJ sent a letter to L.A. County Registrar- Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber demanding that they separate and refuse to count the ballots of voters the federal government claims are ineligible based on a list the federal government constructed using methods they refused to disclose to state and local election officials.

Logan and the Secretary of State's Office refused to comply, triggering the DOJ's lawsuit.

According to Weber's office, federal officials claimed in July that California had 190,000 non-citizens on its voter rolls, but when her office asked for proof of their claims, "they refused and provided California with nothing."

The Trump administration has long asserted that large numbers of non- citizens were casting ballots in California and elsewhere, although officials have never provided any proof or documentation of such sweeping fraud.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli took to X on Friday to lash out at California officials for failing to review the citizenship of the voters flagged by the federal government.

"The 20K represents the number of non-citizens confirmed by a review of federal databases," he wrote. "This has been confirmed by (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) and (Homeland Security Investigations). The data has been provided to California, and they are free to check the work. But that suggests California is actually interested in complying with federal elections laws.

"California is intentionally spreading misinformation about the data we produced. Instead, it should review the data and work to prevent non-citizen ballots from being counted. Especially since it already mailed ballots to them."

By Fred Shuster, City News Service