Immigrants seeking US citizenship targeted in Trump administration's illegal voting crackdown

Federal prosecutors in California have charged 28 legal permanent residents with illegally registering or voting, and most of the cases hinge less on ballots than on what the immigrants allegedly told authorities while seeking citizenship. According to the Justice Department, six people face misdemeanor counts of voting as a noncitizen, while the other 22 face felony charges that include lying in naturalization interviews or on applications and registration forms. Prosecutors had filed charging documents in 10 cases by Thursday. The effort is part of the Trump administration's push to find noncitizen voting before the midterms, though data shows such voting is extremely rare and has not been shown to change results, according to ABC News.

José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, applied for citizenship in October 2025. Prosecutors say he claimed citizenship when registering in 2007 and later misstated it on immigration paperwork, but they do not accuse him of voting. He says he never knew he was registered. Pamele Arbues Line, 56, was arrested after her San Diego interview on Oct. 15; prosecutors say she registered five times and voted, though she denied ever doing so on her paperwork. She faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted.

First Assistant U. S.

Summarized by PolitiKool from ABC News’s reporting. Read the full story at ABC News →