California Attorney General Rob Bonta sharply criticised the Trump administration's efforts to halt alleged voting by non-US citizens, arguing that the law is being politicised and used as a weapon. Bonta told MS Now that the US Department of Justice is once again politicising and misusing the law to attack its enemies, describing the move as completely inappropriate. He added that the department was acting on the orders of Donald Trump.
Tensions escalated less than two weeks before the election, when federal prosecutors asked California election officials to verify a list of approximately 20,000 ballots suspected of belonging to non-citizens within 48 hours. Voting by non-citizens is extremely rare, but the Department of Justice has intensified prosecutions of individuals accused of illegal voting without US citizenship ahead of the election.
California election staff expressed concern that such a directive could disenfranchise citizens. Los Angeles officials said this week that a "high percentage" of the people on the list were born in the United States. California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on social media that the Trump administration's Department of Justice was so desperate that it invented "widespread election fraud" by sending California counties lists of people who had never voted, as well as voters from the wrong county, calling it a circus.
Congressman Pete Aguilar, who represents the southwestern part of San Bernardino County, posted on social media that voter intimidation has no place in democracy. The federal oversight comes amid national Republican efforts to address alleged election fraud, particularly in cases involving undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Justice stated that it is requiring every county election official to commit to cooperation and provide necessary information so that the Department of Homeland Security can quickly verify citizenship status, claiming this ensures the safest elections in California's history. Bonta, however, questioned the evidence underpinning the suspicions regarding ballots cast by non-citizens. At a recent press conference, he said they had only received a list of people, without an explanation of why they were allegedly ineligible, adding that they would be happy to review such information but had not received it.
The Department of Justice recently also filed charges against 28 foreign nationals, accusing them of false voter registration. Deputy Attorney General Bill Essayli stated that today's arrests prove what they have been saying – that California is sending ballots to non-citizens and refusing to comply with federal law, which makes voting by non-citizens a criminal offence, and that the voting rights of American citizens must be protected. The accused are legal permanent residents who have legal status in the US but are not citizens authorised to vote.
Some state officials did not comply with the letters sent on Friday, citing the approaching election as the reason, which has triggered a legal battle with the Department of Justice. The appellate court is expected to consider the case on Tuesday.
