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... The arrests are part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of next month's midterm elections, even though data shows that the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.
Federal officials on Monday blamed California officials for the alleged crimes, accusing them of facilitating noncitizen voting through inadequate voter roll maintenance and hiding it from the public. The charges escalated a simmering voter roll fight that came into focus last week when the Justice Department sued California and warned that local election workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by noncitizen voters are at risk of investigation and potential prosecution.
The Justice Department said the 28 people who were charged as part of a sweep dubbed Operation Protect the Vote are lawful permanent residents " but not U.S. citizens who are permitted to legally vote. They are charged with crimes including making false statements on a naturalization application and submitting fraudulent voter registrations.
"This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens," Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said during a news conference in Los Angeles.
Rob Bonta, California's Democratic attorney general, said Monday that there is no widespread voter fraud in California and that while "one-off" examples of voter fraud are possible, those instances are "a drop in the bucket" considering the state has 23 million registered voters.
Bonta said he expects his state to prevail in the federal government's lawsuit, saying the Republican administration "has provided us with no facts of any ineligible voters, just a conclusory statement with no evidence to back it." ...
