The Justice Department sued California and Los Angeles County officials over suspected illegal alien voters, seeking a federal order to block counting ballots from individuals identified by federal agencies as likely noncitizens.
The Democrat-run state refused to comply with a 48-hour window to set aside thousands of ballots, prompting the Trump administration to file a lawsuit.
“Time is up for California. We gave California 48 hours to review and flag more than 20,000 noncitizen voters recently mailed live ballots. California refused. This morning we filed a federal court action seeking an emergency order requiring California to sequester ballots returned by suspected noncitizens,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.
“This is not political or controversial. 18 U.S.C. § 611 makes it a federal offense for noncitizens to vote in a federal election. We will not allow California to dilute the votes of American citizens,” Essayli added.
Time is up for California
We gave California 48 hours to review and flag more than 20,000 noncitizen voters recently mailed live ballots.
California refused.
This morning we filed a federal court action seeking an emergency order requiring California to sequester ballots returned by suspected noncitizens.
This is not political or controversial. 18 U.S.C. § 611 makes it a federal offense for noncitizens to vote in a federal election. We will not allow California to dilute the votes of American citizens.
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 15, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had determined that more than 20,000 people who are likely aliens are registered to vote in California — under California law, every registered voter is mailed a ballot.
“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government. The Department of Justice will continue working to uncover cases of voter fraud, hold fraudsters accountable, and restore trust in American elections.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta dismissed the claims as meritless and late, stating that past audits found that the thing that keeps happening in America — voter fraud — is not a “widespread” problem.
“Mail ballots are already in most voters’ hands, and Election Day is less than three weeks away. Every count, recount, hand count, lawsuit, and audit has found that there’s no widespread voter fraud in the U.S.,” Bonta posted on X. “The Trump Admin’s last-minute demands are meritless, and we look forward to making our case in court.”
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
Well Rob, if those ballots are in the hands of illegals and noncitizens, you have committed a crime. This state had plenty of time to clean the dirty voter rolls.
I am so happy this is finally happening.— Bytemeharder (@bytemeharder) October 15, 2026
You had a chance to purge CA voter rolls & you chose not to.
You chose to blanket-mail a ballot to every address on the rolls knowing there are people who should not be on there.
You chose to leave open opportunities to misuse ballots.
You chose to disenfranchise my vote.
— Denise Harrison (@DeniseHarr42740) October 15, 2026
Bonta says there’s no fraud and the DOJ is just making it up.
DHS matched tens of thousands of California voter records to known noncitizens using name, birthday, address, and Social Security number. The DOJ handed over a list of about 20,000 people who already got ballots.…
— Rick (@TheMindCypher) October 15, 2026
Born and raised Californian here and I wholeheartedly endorse this action by the Federal Government. I am sick and tired of corrupt CA politicians and their non-citizen base nullifying my legitimate vote and my legitimate citizenship. Please prosecute the perpetrators to the…
— Karma
(@Karmah98) October 15, 2026
CA is a dictatorship. The DOJ needs to step in. Our Civil Liberties do not exist in CA. We obviously don’t have free and fair elections and that’s why CA has a Dem supermajority for the last 16 years and Spencer Pratt lost the L.A. Mayoral primary. They plan the same for Steve…
— Make CA Sane Again (@letsMA3) October 15, 2026
