The Justice Department on Monday announced charges against 48 noncitizens in five states, accusing them of voting in federal elections, claiming U.S. citizenship to register, or concealing that history when they applied to become citizens. The department's announcement gathers cases filed by federal prosecutors in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and Nevada.
All but one of the defendants are lawful permanent residents, according to the department, which means they hold green cards but are not citizens. The exception is Alfredo Santiesteban, a 73-year-old Cuban national charged in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, whom the department describes as being in the country without legal status. He is accused of voting in the 2024 general election.
California accounts for 28 of the cases, spread across all four of the state's federal judicial districts. The department first announced those charges on Oct. 19, when federal agents arrested 11 of the defendants. The New York Post reported that the arrests came in raids carried out under a statewide operation called Operation Protect the Vote, and that the defendants were identified from a list of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens who had registered to vote in the state.
In the Central District, 13 defendants face felony charges, and several are accused of concealing their registration or voting history when they applied for citizenship. One of them, Omar Alexander Muñoz, a 72-year-old Belizean national, is accused of registering to vote in September 2019 by claiming to be a citizen and then voting in 2020, twice in 2022 and again in 2024. Prosecutors say he later swore, in his application for citizenship, that he had never claimed to be a U.S. citizen. Homeland Security Investigations agents took him into custody at his home in the City of Commerce, the Post reported.
The six defendants in the Eastern District of California face misdemeanor counts of voting by an alien in a federal election, which carry a maximum of one year in prison. One is accused of voting as recently as the June 2026 primary, and two allegedly registered on the day of the November 2024 general election and cast ballots that same day. Nine more defendants in the state's Northern and Southern districts face charges over sworn statements in their naturalization cases, in which prosecutors say they denied ever claiming citizenship or misrepresented their voting history.
Pennsylvania has the next-largest group, with four defendants in the Eastern District and five in the Middle District, each charged with voting by an alien. Artur Kopacz, a 50-year-old Polish national from Philadelphia, faces two counts over his alleged votes in the 2022 and 2024 general elections. His lawyer, Chuck Peruto, told Votebeat that Kopacz had twice passed the citizenship test but left out a certified copy of a criminal records extract showing he had no record, and that he voted while waiting to become a citizen because he believed he was eligible. Lawyers for several of the other Pennsylvania defendants did not respond to the outlet or could not be located. Votebeat reported that the new cases bring to 20 the number of people charged in Pennsylvania with noncitizen voting crimes since September.
The numbers remain small against the size of the electorate. A Votebeat and Spotlight PA review of Pennsylvania election crimes since mid-2015 counted 176 allegedly fraudulent ballots out of more than 67 million cast, a total that includes the newest charges.
In the Middle District of Florida, six permanent residents from Cuba, Canada, Ecuador and Brazil are charged with voting by an alien, and three of them also face counts of claiming U.S. citizenship in order to vote. Three defendants from Ireland, Guyana and Jamaica were charged in the Eastern District of New York, and the department says each admitted to federal agents, in voluntary interviews, that they voted in the 2024 federal election knowing they were not citizens. A 66-year-old German national was charged in the Northern District of New York, and a 44-year-old Filipino national is charged with voting by an alien in Nevada.
The announcement, which comes with early voting already under way in Los Angeles, follows a similar one on Oct. 16, when the department disclosed charges against 16 noncitizens in North Carolina, New York and Idaho.
The department's release notes that a complaint, indictment or information contains only accusations, and that every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.