Federal authorities on Monday charged more than two dozen foreign nationals in California as part of a statewide operation targeting individuals who, according to officials, have unlawfully registered to vote and cast ballots in U.S. elections.

The arrests are part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of next month's midterm elections, even though data shows the problem is extremely rare, hard to prove, and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.

They also reflect a further escalation in a simmering voter roll dispute between the federal government and California that came into focus last week, when the Justice Department sued the state and later warned that local election workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by noncitizen voters risk investigation and possible prosecution.

The Justice Department said that the 28 people charged in a sweep called Operation Protect the Vote are lawful permanent residents — but not U.S. citizens who are allowed to vote legally.

They are charged with crimes such as making false statements on a naturalization application and submitting fraudulent voter registrations.

“This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens,” Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said during a news conference in Los Angeles held to announce the charges.

The federal government has made noncitizen voting a priority this year, demanding detailed voter information — including dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — from the states.

While some states voluntarily handed over the information, the department sued 30 states and the District of Columbia to obtain it — lawsuits that have so far been unsuccessful.

The Justice Department said Monday it has charged 113 people across 20 states with illegal voting and illegal registration offenses over the past several weeks.

It had earlier said it charged approximately 90 people with various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens.

More than 227 million voters were registered in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.

Monday's operation involved the four U.S. attorneys' offices across California in what the Justice Department intended as a statewide show of force.

Among the dozens of people arrested was a 72-year-old man born in Belize, who is accused of voting illegally in four elections.

Dozens of federal agents descended upon the man's residential cul-de-sac in Commerce, a small city in Los Angeles County, in order to carry out the arrest.

The man was handcuffed in his pajamas and taken into federal custody downtown.

Others emerged from the house to watch and questioned the number of heavily armed officers present for the arrest, as well as the necessity of handcuffs.

The arrests were the latest in a burst of activity in heavily Democratic California, a state not usually seen as a key battleground but one with several competitive congressional races that could help decide which party controls the U.S. House for the last two years of President Donald Trump's term.

More than 23 million people are registered statewide.

Last week, the administration sued California to stop it from counting mail ballots from people the federal government has identified as "likely" noncitizens until their immigration status is confirmed.

The complaint was filed after California officials, given a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of 20,000 names, failed to meet it.

The federal government says those are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election, although the secretary of state said the administration has provided no evidence to support that claim.

The state mails ballots to all registered voters.

McCotter indicated that the figure of 20,000 was likely to increase.

"That constitutes merely the floor," he remarked.

As part of its lawsuit, the Justice Department filed paperwork on Monday seeking a court order that would require California to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens and to verify their citizenship status — either independently or together with the federal government — before counting their mail-in ballots.

The Justice Department asked for the order to be entered in time for the Nov. 3 election.

Without such an order, the government said, “there is a significant risk that American votes will be diluted.”

Requests for comment that were sent on Monday to the secretary of state, the state attorney general and the governor’s office had not been returned immediately.

On Friday, the Justice Department followed up with a letter warning that state election officials who knowingly process ballots cast by noncitizen voters could face investigation.

“The legal consequences of 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,” warns the letter from McCotter.

It adds: “If people knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals whom federal agencies have identified as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.”

Addressed to the Los Angeles County Counsel's office and copied to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan, the letter effectively puts the entire state on notice.

In response to the letter, Logan stated that his office is committed to conducting a fair and secure election, while noting that Election Day is a mere 18 days away.

“The U.S. Department of Justice has chosen to litigate its unverified claims about voting eligibility.

At this point, it would be best for this to be addressed in court,” he said.