US authorities arrest dozens in California over noncitizen voting

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 20 Oct, 21:08 · Archive

Federal authorities arrested more than two dozen foreign nationals in California on Monday as part of Operation Protect the Vote, targeting people alleged to have illegally registered and voted in US elections. The Trump administration has made noncitizen voting a priority ahead of next month's midterm elections. The Justice Department said all those arrested are lawful permanent residents charged with crimes including making false statements on naturalisation applications and submitting fraudulent voter registrations.

The arrests reflect a wider escalation in a dispute between federal and state authorities. The Justice Department sued California last week after demanding detailed voter information from states and giving Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State a 48-hour deadline to segregate ballots from anyone on a list of 20,000 suspected noncitizens. California election officials refused and are challenging the list's reliability.

Los Angeles election officials have questioned the methodology used to compile the list. In court papers filed on Tuesday, they stated that among a sample of 200 people on the list, 38.9 per cent had birthplace information indicating they were born in the United States. They also noted that 43 per cent of those sampled had cancelled voter registration records and 71 per cent never voted. The Department of Homeland Security, which compiled the list, has resisted sharing its methodology for identifying noncitizen voters.

How it is being reported

• DoJ’s suspected non-citizens list includes ‘high percentage’ of those born in US, LA officials sayThe statement revealed in court papers raises questions about the reliability of the list of 20,000 people in California The justice department’s list of suspected non-citizens in California includes a “high percentage” of people born in the United States, Los Angeles election officials said on Tuesday. The statement, made in court papers , raises further questions about the reliability of a list of 20,000 people the justice department provided to election officials in Los Angeles last week. The department sent the county and California secretary of state the list last week and gave them a…Guardian World · 20 Oct, 20:46
• Justice Department arrests more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen votersFederal authorities are arresting more than two dozen foreign nationals in California who authorities said have illegally registered and voted in U.S. electionsIndependent World · 19 Oct, 17:24

In this story: Trump administration · Justice Department · California · Los Angeles · Department of Homeland Security

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