As millions vote in California, dozens face charges. Proving election violations may be difficult

FRESNO, Calif. – A 51-year-old business owner and father of seven was the first of more than three dozen California residents to appear in court to face allegations by the federal government that they violated voting laws because they are not U.S. citizens.

Camilo Giles Jimenez, a U.S. legal permanent resident from Mexico who, according to the criminal complaint, has lived outside Kerman, in Fresno County, since at least 2017, pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor counts Wednesday afternoon in federal court in downtown Fresno. The government charges say he voted in three elections in violation of the law that bans non-U.S. citizens from voting for president or Congress.

Marek Warszawski

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KVPR

During the 10-minute hearing before Judge Stanley A. Boone, federal public defender Erin Snider said Jimenez, who was dressed in a peach polo shirt, faded jeans and white Nike sneakers, owns a paving company. Neither Jimenez nor Snider answered questions from reporters.

Justice Department officials announced the charges against Jimenez and 27 other California residents on Oct. 19 as part of a coordinated effort they said was designed “to root out fraud” in U.S. elections and protect electoral integrity. On Monday, the department announced charges against 12 more people in California.

Many of the defendants are not charged with illegally voting, but with illegally registering to vote or lying on their naturalization applications.

More court appearances are set for the coming days and weeks.

Legal experts say that to gain convictions for illegal voting prosecutors must prove that these people willfully committed a crime, which could be difficult. Regardless of any criminal convictions, even legal residents could be deported whether or not they knew they were breaking the law.

The cases and the people

Twenty-three of hose accused are from Southern California, six are from the Bay Area, four are from the Sacramento region and seven are from Fresno County and the Central Valley.

One of those arrested in the mid-October sweep, 72-year-old Omar Muñoz of Commerce, told KCRW that six police vehicles, a helicopter and at least six reporters arrived at his home just after 5 a.m. on Oct. 19.

“It’s a show,” Muñoz told the station. “I said, ‘Wow!’ I said, ‘I’m not a killer.’”

Eli Chavez

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KCRW

Muñoz was still wearing pajamas when he was shackled around the waist and legs and transported to downtown Los Angeles. He was released that afternoon but would not speak to the specifics of the charges against him.

Justice department officials have said these indictments are the tip of the iceberg in what they allege is widespread voter fraud in California.

“Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said in a news release. “Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely non-citizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week. California refused to look at that list. Today's charges show exactly what that refusal puts at risk.”

Wednesday, a federal judge sided with California by rejecting a bid by the Trump administration to separate out any ballots sent in from people on that list. The decision by U.S. District Judge David Carter is a setback for the federal government in its efforts to exert more control over state-run elections ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm. On Monday, the Supreme Court denied an appeal by the Department of Justice to wade into its fight with California over voter rolls.

“Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” Carter wrote in his 26-page decision. “In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign. But California and its people are sovereign, too.”

The California Newsroom tried to speak with many of the defendants, and their lawyers, but except for Muñoz, all inquiries were turned down or received no response.

In its case against Jimenez, the government alleges the Fresno County resident submitted a voter registration application to the Fresno County Registrar in 2022, and checked a box indicating he is a U.S. citizen. Jimenez is also accused of voting in recent elections.

Jae C. Hong

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AP

The complaint says Jimenez subsequently told agents that he registered to vote after receiving his green card. Jimenez also said that he had been voting since 2023, according to the complaint, although he denied ever claiming he was a citizen.

Standard of proof

To prove its case against Jimenez and the other defendants, the government must show they deliberately broke federal law by voting as non-citizens, according to UCLA law professor Rick Hasen.

The federal statute prohibits anyone who isn’t a U.S. citizen from voting to elect the president or members of Congress. Doing so is punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine or a combination of both.

“In order to violate the statute, there has to be proof that the person did so intentionally,” Hasen said. “That is, they knew they were not eligible, and they did it anyway.”

For example, Hasen said it is not necessarily considered intentional if a government office, like the Department of Motor Vehicles, mistakenly offers someone who is not a citizen the chance to register to vote.

“Suppose you are told by a government official you can register to vote, even if you’re not a citizen, and the person registers, then they might be doing so knowing that they registered but not knowing that they were violating the law,” Hasen added.

Even a statement that a defendant makes acknowledging that he or she voted would not automatically prove the government’s case, Hasen said. Prosecutors must still show defendants were knowingly and willfully breaking the law.

He said successful prosecutions or guilty pleas by non-citizens accused of voter fraud are rare.

“It seems to be a very small problem relative to the number of voters in the country,” Hasen said, adding that it is more about, “trying to make an example of some people, rather than showing evidence that there's a massive problem of election fraud in the United States.”

Potential immigration consequences

Jae C. Hong

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AP

While intentionality is key to a criminal case, it may not matter when it comes to immigration consequences. Regardless of whether someone meant to break the law, unlawful voting and falsely claiming to be a citizen, including by signing a voter registration form, can be grounds for deportation and for denial of an application for U.S. citizenship.

Many of the people charged have lived in the U.S. legally for years and are in the process of applying for citizenship, according to the federal complaints against them. That could now be denied to them, even if the government doesn’t move to deport them.

Stanford University Law Professor Jennifer Chacón says that one reason non-citizen voting is rare, is because the price to pay is so steep.

“The fact that these individuals can be criminally prosecuted, barred from naturalization, subject to deportation, all demonstrates why, as a general rule, non-citizen voting is not a problem,” she said, “because there are many, many consequences to it, and people are generally aware of that.”

Federal prosecutors said that the names they provided in California are only a small fraction of a wider problem. “We are investigating thousands of more similar cases throughout the nation,” Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, told reporters. While the Department of Justice has emphasized that the number of noncitizens charged with voting and related offenses has grown to more than 150 in this Trump term from a total of 13 under Biden’s entire term, other analysts point out that it is small compared to the number of registered voters.

California has 23 million voters, Attorney General Bob Bonta noted, saying those who face charges in the state are “just a drop in the bucket numerically, and it makes the point that there is no widespread voter fraud.”

Speaking on KQED’s Forum program, the UCLA Law Professor, Rick Hasen, cast doubt on the federal government’s statements. “What I think they’re actually trying to do,” he said, “is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.”

This story was reported by KVPR, KCRW and KQED with The California Newsroom, a collaboration of public media outlets that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED (San Francisco), LAist and KCRW (Los Angeles), KPBS (San Diego) and other stations across the state.