NEW: Trump DOJ Warns California Officials They Risk Prosecution For Counting Noncitizen Ballots

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a formal letter to Los Angeles County officials stating that election administrators who knowingly tabulate ballots from individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime

The letter, dated October 16 from Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, was issued in response to the county’s position that it is “legally prohibited” from temporarily setting such ballots aside.

On October 13, the department hand-delivered a password-protected dataset to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk identifying more than 20,000 individuals that federal agencies reasonably believe are likely noncitizens registered to vote in California and who received vote-by-mail ballots. Similar notices went to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

Officials were given 48 hours to review the list, determine whether any U.S. citizens appeared on it, segregate returned ballots from individuals whose citizenship could not be independently confirmed, and withhold unsent ballots until status could be verified.

The department noted that it was not requesting cancellation of any registration or a systematic purge of the voter rolls, and was instead simply requesting a review of ballots suspected of being cast by noncitizens. “Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes,” McCotter wrote in the earlier letters.

Los Angeles County officials declined to access the thumb drive, citing established data privacy and information security protocols, and informed the department that the device was not considered a secure medium. Ultimately, California authorities did not implement the requested measures by the deadline.

The DOJ subsequently filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking an order to prevent tabulation of the ballots until citizenship status could be determined. In the October 16 follow-up letter to Assistant County Counsel Peter M. Bollinger, McCotter rejected the county’s assertion that temporary segregation was legally prohibited.

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🚨 HOLY CRAP! The Trump admin told Gavin Newsom and LA County they have 20,000 possible noncitizen ballots and they are REFUSING TO DO ANYTHING

FA US ATTORNEY BILL ESSAYLI: "We're telling them you have 20,000 non-citizens on the voter rolls, you're going to be diluting the votes… pic.twitter.com/CHP2PRdzHY

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 16, 2026

“That position is incorrect as a matter of federal law,” he wrote, adding that the stance places officials in both the Secretary of State’s office and the County Registrar-Recorder’s office at risk of knowingly facilitating violations of federal criminal statutes.

“The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant. Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime—and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful,” McCotter wrote in the letter.

“If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime,” it further warns.

McCotter noted that California’s reliance on self-attestation for voter registration does not supersede federal prohibitions, that the National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day quiet period does not apply to targeted individualized evidence supplied by federal authorities, and that administrative burdens do not excuse inaction. “Administrative difficulty is not a defense to violating federal law or aiding or abetting a federal offense,” the letter states.

This exchange occurs against a longer background of disagreement over voter-list maintenance. In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin notified California of preliminary findings suggesting as many as 190,000 potential noncitizens on the state’s rolls.

The state has also resisted broader Justice Department requests for detailed voter registration records in separate litigation, and a federal court previously dismissed one such suit seeking comprehensive voter data. California automatically mails ballots to all registered voters under state law, and noncitizens are prohibited by federal statute from voting in elections for federal office.

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