Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter said all 28 defendants appear on the list of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizen registrants that the Justice Department sent to California election officials last week. Alongside the criminal complaints, the department filed for an emergency temporary restraining order to force California to immediately set aside mail ballots from the flagged registrants until their citizenship is verified, submitting sworn declarations that detail identity matching, manual US Citizenship and Immigration Services review and removal of citizens and deceased individuals.
State and federal Democrats pushed back against the enforcement sweep and ballot challenge. California Governor Gavin Newsom's press office highlighted a Justice Department official's remark that "there may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens. We're not perfect." US Senator Alex Padilla accused the administration of offering no evidence to block the 20,000 ballots and threatening election officials with criminal investigations without a legal basis.