28 Noncitizens Charged In California Voting Fraud Bust
Federal agents charged 28 noncitizens with election crimes in California hours after Leslie Stahl claimed illegal voting was rare. The DOJ lists 20,000 suspects.
Trending Newsfeed Staff Writer · Oct 20, 2026 · 2 min read
Federal prosecutors charged 28 noncitizens in California with election crimes on Monday. This action came just hours after Leslie Stahl of CBS News told viewers that noncitizen voting was not a serious problem. The Justice Department announced the charges as part of Operation Protect the Vote. These 28 people allegedly lied to register and cast ballots in U.S. elections.
The Timing of the Charges
The news broke right after a 60 Minutes segment aired on Sunday night. During the interview, Stahl spoke with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon about election fraud. Stahl questioned the need for these prosecutions.
According to The Federalist, Dhillon replied that the distrust people feel is already real. The federal filing happened the very next morning after Stahl made her comments.
Details From the Indictments
Many of the accused cast votes while falsely claiming they were citizens. RedState reports that 23 of the 28 defendants allegedly voted in U.S. elections. One man, Alexander Muñoz, registered illegally in 2019 and voted in four elections. Another, Rouzbeh Seyamaknejad, registered in 2018 and voted in 2024. A Mexican national named Sulema de León also allegedly lied on her naturalization papers to vote.
The Justice Department says it has now charged 113 noncitizens across 20 states in less than two months. This crackdown follows an order from the Trump administration to California. Officials were told to check a list of suspected noncitizens who received mail-in ballots. The state did not meet the deadline to review the list.
The California List Dispute
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said the state refused to even look at the data. He told reporters that California officials basically said, “Up yours” to the DOJ, which led to the legal filing. McCotter confirmed that each of the 28 defendants charged Monday appeared on that list of 20,000 suspected noncitizens.
The federal government wants a court to stop counting ballots from people on that list until their citizenship is checked. McCotter contended that over 20,000 registrants in California require citizenship verification prior to counting mail-in ballots. The DOJ provided a thumb drive with names and addresses to state officials. They asked the state to set aside any ballots from these people immediately.