By Tom Gantert

The U.S. Department of Justice has sent letters to county election officials in California warning them they could face federal scrutiny if they refuse to help identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls and set aside those individuals’ mail ballots so they can be verified.

The letters were dated Friday, and the election officials were given 48 hours to cooperate and help identify the citizenship status of individuals on federal government lists.

“We are asking each county election official to commit to working with us by providing the necessary information for DHS to quickly verify citizenship status,” the DOJ said in an email to The Epoch Times. “With their help, we can ensure the most secure election in California history.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the DOJ for its actions.

Newsom posted a New York Times story that reported that the Inyo County clerk’s office had two people on its list of suspected noncitizen voters and neither had been issued ballots. The article also stated the Mendocino County clerk’s office received a list of voters from another county.

“Trump’s DOJ is so desperate to invent ‘widespread voter fraud,’ it sent California counties lists of people who NEVER voted — and voters from the WRONG COUNTY. Absolute clown show!” Newsom posted Saturday on X.

The Ninth Circuit scheduled arguments for Oct. 25 on the Justice Department’s appeal seeking to require officials in California to set aside mail ballots from suspected noncitizens. DOJ appealed after a district judge did not immediately rule. The court will also consider Los Angeles County’s request to dismiss the federal government’s appeal.

The DOJ has been battling California for more than a year over election integrity and other issues.

“California has a fraud problem,” Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said Oct. 22 at a press conference on healthcare fraud in the state. “I dubbed California the kingdom of fraud. Whether it’s hospice fraud or healthcare fraud or election fraud, California does fraud best.”

In June 2025, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Orange County, California, for refusing to provide the Justice Department with records pertaining to the removal of noncitizens from its voter registration list and for failing to maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act.

Three months later, the DOJ sued California for failure to produce statewide voter registration lists.

In January 2026, U.S. District Judge David Carter dismissed the California voter-data lawsuit.

Six months later, DHS told the state of California there were more than 190,000 suspected noncitizen voters who are registered to vote in the state.

The Justice Department announced Oct. 19 that 28 lawful permanent residents in California face federal charges involving alleged election crimes.

Prosecutors said defendants falsely claimed U.S. citizenship to register to vote and, in many cases, cast ballots. The cases span California’s four federal judicial districts under “Operation Protect the Vote.” DOJ said all 28 appeared on its list of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizen registrants, central to its separate lawsuit against California.

The California attorney general’s office disputed the claim that there was widespread voter fraud in the state.

“The 28 individuals charged this morning represent a tiny fraction—approximately 0.0001 percent—of California’s more than 23 million registered voters. That’s not evidence of widespread voter fraud, even if the allegations are true,” the state attorney general’s office said in an email to The Epoch Times.

“We have safeguards in place to protect election integrity, and they’re working. Isolated cases of alleged voter fraud occur in red and blue states alike, and they should be prosecuted wherever they occur.”

Reuters contributed to this report.