Follow-up: Details Emerge in California Voter Cases: Most of the 28 Green Card Holders Charged Were Applying for US Citizenship

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for US citizenship and now face charges of lying on forms or during interviews, according to an Associated Press report on October 23. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalize. The Justice Department's Operation Protect the Vote, announced October 19, charged 28 lawful permanent residents; GSM previously reported that 11 were arrested.

As of Thursday morning, the government had filed charging documents in only 10 of the 28 cases, offering additional details about how authorities relied on voter registration data to pursue broader criminal charges around immigration status. The Justice Department said six people would be charged with voting as a noncitizen, a misdemeanor, while the 22 others faced a combination of felony charges including lying on naturalization applications, during interviews or on voter registration forms. Illegal voting carries up to a year in prison; lying on a citizenship application carries up to a decade.

José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the country for 40 years as a legal permanent resident. Charging documents allege he improperly claimed to be a citizen in 2007 when registering to vote and later lied about it on immigration paperwork; the government has not accused him of casting a ballot. He told AP he had no idea he had registered to vote until he was arrested Monday outside his Los Angeles home, though he recalls getting a driver's license around 2007; in California, people are prompted to register to vote when applying for a license. "I have never voted because I know I can't vote," he said. "If there was a mistake, they should have called me out right away, not 20 years later." He was released after his arrest and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

In another case, Homeland Security agents arrested Pamele Arbues Line, 56, from the Philippines, immediately after her October 15 naturalization interview in San Diego. Charging documents say she registered to vote five times and submitted ballots in several elections while stating on paperwork and in her interview that she had never voted or claimed to be a US citizen; the documents also say she later admitted registering while renewing her driver's license last year and voting once. She told authorities she believed she was a citizen because her mother naturalized after they moved to the United States more than four decades ago, but the government says she was 19 at the time and not covered by her mother's citizenship. She learned she was not a citizen in June when renewing her Social Security card and applied for naturalization the same day, according to the documents. She faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted of two charges.

Amandeep Kaur, among those charged, has lived in the country for eight years and is in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen, her husband Kulwinder Singh, a US citizen, told AP. He said she took her 2024 driver's license written test in Hindi because she struggles with English and does not know whether she registered to vote then; she received and returned a ballot in 2024 that they both thought was a registration form. "All she does is cry. It's heartbreaking," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not say what first drew attention to those charged but said it reviewed naturalization and other records; some court documents describe an August benefits fraud audit by Homeland Security that started the process of identifying those charged. "The voting rights of American citizens must be protected," First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement announcing the charges. The Justice Department has also sued California over verifying the citizenship of roughly 20,000 registered voters; California, with more than 23 million registered voters, says it complies with federal law and that the administration's numbers are likely significantly inflated. Government data shows 58,000 naturalization applications were approved between April and June 2026, less than a quarter of the number approved in the same period in 2025. (GSM, based on Associated Press reporting)

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 美国海军公共领域照片：新公民在 San Diego 的 USS Midway 博物馆参加入籍宣誓仪式（资料图，2015年，美国海军 Gerald Dudley Reynolds 摄）

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