DOJ non-citizens list includes US-born
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Los Angeles County's sample of 200 names from DOJ's 20,000-person list found nearly 40% indicated US birth.
The finding undercuts the list driving federal charges weeks before the midterms.
Background
The Justice Department (DOJ) delivered a list of roughly 20,000 people that the Department of Homeland Security says are 'likely noncitizens' registered to vote in California, and sued the state to force it to investigate them before their votes are counted. California says that is unfeasible this close to the election and would likely break federal and state election laws. The list was built from voter roll information, immigration records and other government data, according to DOJ. The dispute escalated as DOJ announced criminal charges drawn from the same list.
How it unfolded
- Oct 19, 2026DOJ announced charges against 28 people from the list in a sweep called Operation Protect the Vote, saying they are lawful permanent residents but not US citizens. DOJ said it has charged 113 people in 20 states with illegal voting and registration offenses in recent weeks.
- Oct 19, 2026Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, at a Los Angeles press conference, acknowledged the list could contain errors and said the 20,000 figure was likely to rise: 'That's just the floor.'
- Oct 20, 2026Los Angeles County filed a preliminary analysis of a 200-person sample: nearly 40% indicated they were born in the United States and 71.2% of the records had no voting history.
- Oct 20, 2026A separate filing by LA County Registrar Dean Logan said only 7,035 of the 20,000 names had addresses in Los Angeles County and some were duplicates.
- Oct 20, 2026DOJ deputy press secretary Kiersten Pels said California 'cannot facilitate the violation of federal law' and accused the state of 'willful blindness'; California called the litigation a 'reckless political stunt' that could disenfranchise thousands.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged 'there may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens, we're not perfect,' and said that is why DOJ asked California to cooperate.
- Official
- DOJ deputy press secretary Kiersten Pels said California was asked to independently verify citizenship of ballots cast by people on the list and 'refused to do so,' calling it 'willful blindness.'
- Party
- California wrote in its filing that the litigation is 'at best... a reckless political stunt' and 'at worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election.'
- Analysts
- Los Angeles County officials said the sample's US-birth responses are 'strong evidence of citizenship,' while noting they did not say every US-born person in the sample is necessarily a citizen.
Still unverified
McCotter acknowledged the federal list of 20,000 names could contain errors. Los Angeles County says DOJ's filings show the review began with a voter roster more than a year old from an unidentified source plus an unnamed commercial data platform, and one federal declarant acknowledged some underlying information may be 'incomplete, outdated, or mismatched.' The federal government says the 20,000 are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots, while the California Secretary of State says the administration has provided no evidence to support that claim.