Green card holders charged in California voter fraud case

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged 28 people with election-related crimes on Oct. 19, 2026, including green card holders from Mexico, El Salvador and Belize who appeared in court that day and said they did not recall registering to vote.

The defendants face allegations of fraudulent voter registration and of making false statements on naturalization applications, according to the Los Angeles Times. California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said the 28 represent roughly 0.0001% of the state's registered voters, LAist reported, while the Justice Department has separately sent state and local officials a list of 20,000 voters it says it has high confidence are not citizens.

The charges arrived during a dispute between federal election officials and California over that list. Los Angeles County election officials said they received the records on a thumb drive they could not open for security reasons, and the federal government sued the state after officials declined to use the list to remove voters from local rolls. In a court declaration, L.A. County Assistant Registrar Monica Flores said a sample of 200 records showed that a majority were not active voters and that nearly 40% indicated the person was born in the United States. For Mexican and other immigrant families in Southern California, the case has turned registration records that in some cases date back two decades into a live question.

Among those charged were Ana Domínguez, 60, a lawful permanent resident from El Salvador accused of registering fraudulently in July 2006; Omar Muñoz, 72, a green card holder from Belize arrested at his home in Commerce; and José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, a Mexican national and West Adams resident detained on his way to work. A magistrate released four defendants on their own recognizance and set a preliminary hearing for Nov. 9. Rick Hasen, who directs the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, wrote that "there is only a crime if the government can prove willful violations of federal law."

Election law experts quoted by LAist advised voters to cast ballots early, to check their registration in person if they have doubts and to track their mail ballots through the California secretary of state's website. The Nov. 9 hearing will show whether prosecutors present additional evidence in the individual cases.

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This story was written with the help of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.