The Justice Department is warning local election officials in California to cooperate with the administration in identifying noncitizens on a list of registered voters or face potential legal action, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.
The department sent letters Friday to 57 of California’s 58 counties, a move that signals an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to block the state from counting the ballots of voters the federal government identifies as likely noncitizens.
Los Angeles County received a similar letter last week.
NBC News obtained the letter sent to San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Joani Finwall from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. In it, First Assistant United States Attorney Bilal Essayli notes that his office provides a list of 1,133 names of “probable aliens.”
“Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the escort list is a citizen and who is not,” Essayli wrote. “I am writing to unequivocally clarify the legal implications of continuing to mail absentee ballots to those on the list or tabulating ballots cast by them until their citizenship can be verified. »
For those whose citizenship status cannot be confirmed, Essayli asked the county to “immediately request the appropriate elections official to segregate – not void – the absentee ballots of these individuals until their citizenship status can be determined.”
“The legal consequences of facilitating or ignoring federal crimes are significant. An alien voting in a federal election is a federal crime – and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally illegal,” Essayli wrote in the letter.
“The letters speak for themselves,” Essayli said in a statement to NBC News. “Any election official who knowingly processes a non-citizen’s ballot is subject to legal risk. »
The New York Times was the first to report these letters.
“Trump’s DOJ has provided no evidence of its claims of massive voter fraud,” Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, said in a statement Friday. “They have admitted that the data they cite is inaccurate and unreliable. No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they have no authority to intervene.”
The Trump administration has made finding non-citizen voters a priority in the run-up to the midterm elections and has heavily targeted Democratic California. The administration sued to stop the state from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters it suspects are not U.S. citizens. On Thursday, he asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to impose restrictions before the lower court ruled on the case.
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