Trump threatens ‘jail’ in California midterm election fight

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened California election officials with jail if they count ballots cast by people the administration has identified as possible noncitizens.

“They will all go to jail for a long period of time,” Trump said in a Truth Social post sharing a letter the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent to Los Angeles County officials warning that counting ballots from alleged noncitizens would open themselves to federal criminal prosecution.

It comes after the DOJ filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday, over the state’s refusal to review a list of more than 20,000 names the department said were likely noncitizens and discard the ballots of anyone confirmed whose status could not be confirmed.

The state had been given 48 hours to do this after officials received the list, on a USB drive, on Tuesday. California declined, saying it did not consider the list secure or substantiated.

California Can’t Refuse Ballots Based on ‘Unverified Allegations’

“We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations,” Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan said in a statement, adding that DOJ had not provided its “underlying evidence, source, or methodology supporting its assertions that individuals identified in its records are ineligible to vote.”

In the DOJ’s lawsuit, it argued that rejecting an “encrypted thumb drive from a federal agent” shows the state’s “total lack of commitment to work with the Federal Government to protect the integrity of our elections.”

It asked the court to block California from counting mail-in ballots cast by suspected noncitizens until their citizenship status could be verified. It also revealed new details about how the department compiled the list.

‘Aiders and Abettors to a Federal Crime’

On Friday, Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent the letter about possible criminal action to Peter M. Bollinger, assistant county counsel for Los Angeles County. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Logan were copied on 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,” McCotter said.

Newsweek has contacted offices for Weber and Logan, via email outside of normal working hours, for comment.

Why California Won’t Comply

State officials argue that complying with the DOJ’s request would be violating federal law, that the list is unsubstantiated and that the deadline was unreasonable.

When Weber responded to the DOJ, she called the allegations “vague” and argued that it would be unlawful to comply because of the National Voter Registration Act generally prohibits systematic voter-roll removals within 90 days of a federal election.

“As you fully acknowledge, ballots have already been delivered to voters and voting is well underway,” she wrote in her letter. “Despite this, and with less than three weeks before the election, you are demanding unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians’ right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide.”

Weber also slammed the 48-hour deadline, “on the eve of an election,” adding: “This is an emergency of the DOJ’s creation.”

“California’s election administration will continue to be governed by applicable federal and state law, not by unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands,” she said.

She went on to say that “if the federal government possesses proof that certain registered voters in California are ineligible,” she would “welcome the opportunity to review” the evidence.

“However, I will not disenfranchise thousands of Californians—or order any county elections official to do so—based solely upon an unsupported and likely inaccurate ‘belie[f]’ that certain voters are ‘likely’ noncitizens,” she said.

Similarly, in response to Thursday’s lawsuit, Logan said in a statement: “We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations, nor can we disregard the legal requirements governing our election.”

DOJ’s Case Against California

The DOJ has asked U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to block the state from counting mail ballots from people it has flagged as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified.

It said California “refused to independently verify the citizenship of people included on the list” or “agree to work with the Federal Government to verify citizenship status before tabulating those voters’ votes.”

The complaint argued that the federal law that makes it illegal for noncitizens to vote overrides California’s election procedures, and that continuing to count the ballots cast by those on the DOJ’s list without further verification would amount to “knowingly facilitat[ing] unlawful voting.”

The DOJ has rejected arguments that the list is not secure, with McCotter saying in his Friday letter that the drive was password-protected and hand-delivered. “This list was developed through a multilayered, multiagency investigative methodology that relied upon internal immigration records, data matching, supervisory verification procedures, and more,” he wrote.

McCotter also rejected California’s invoking of the 90-day rule, saying “applies only to systematic list-maintenance programs—not to targeted, individualized evidence of unlawful voting identified by federal law enforcement.”

“Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime—and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful,” he said.

“The Department has not requested a purge, cancellation of registrations, or any programmatic action,” he said. “We requested only temporary ballot segregation pending citizenship verification.”

Repeating the threat of criminal prosecution, McCotter said: “Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime—and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful.”

The Wider Picture

The Trump administration has made noncitizen voting a major focus ahead of the midterms, though documented cases remain rare. Reuters reported that an investigation published in July identified 129 people prosecuted for noncitizen voting since the federal statute criminalizing it was enacted in 1996.

Thursday’s lawsuit puts not only those 20,000 California ballots before a federal court, but also the administration’s method of flagging the voters.

“We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.

Governor Gavin Newsom also condemned the lawsuit Thursday, calling it a “sad, desperate attempt” by the Trump administration to suppress California voters less than three weeks before Election Day. He said California would continue to conduct its elections despite the federal challenge.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has doubled down on the DOJ’s request and lawsuit, saying: “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America.”

“If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government,” he said. “The Department of Justice will continue working to uncover cases of voter fraud, hold fraudsters accountable, and restore trust in American elections.”

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.