Federal authorities charged more than 20 foreign nationals in California on Monday.

The Justice Department said the 28 people are lawful permanent residents.

They are not U.S. citizens who can vote.

They face charges.

The charges include false statements on naturalization applications.

They also include fake voter registrations.

The sweep was called Operation Protect the Vote.

The arrests are part of a Trump administration push.

The push is against noncitizen voting.

It comes before next month's midterm elections.

Data shows such voting is very rare.

It has not been shown to change race outcomes.

Trent McCotter spoke at a Los Angeles news conference.

He is the Justice Department's acting deputy attorney general.

He said the conduct causes real damage to real elections.

The Justice Department said it has charged 113 people in 20 states.

This happened in recent weeks.

It said it charged about 90 people earlier this year.

Those charges were for election misconduct.

They include 50 alleged noncitizen voters.

More than 227 million people were registered to vote.

That was in the 2024 presidential election.

The operation involved all four U.S. attorneys' offices in California.

One man was among those arrested.

He is 72 years old and was born in Belize.

He is accused of voting illegally in four elections.

Last week the Justice Department sued California.

The suit is about its handling of mail ballots.

It also warned about election workers.

Workers who knowingly process noncitizen ballots could face investigation.