Federal judge orders Justice Department to hand over California noncitizen voter list

U.S. Chief District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered the Department of Justice to release its list of 20,930 suspected noncitizen California voters to outside advocacy groups on October 30, 2026. Subsequent analysis by UCLA researchers revealed that 42% of the flagged names do not appear on California's voter rolls and thousands of naturalized citizens were incorrectly targeted. While federal prosecutors issue subpoenas to election officials under threat of criminal prosecution, state officials and labor unions contend the federal list is flawed, unconstitutional, and threatens eligible voters.

Court order to release California voter list

• ▪Chief District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered the Department of Justice on October 30, 2026 to share its list of alleged noncitizen California voters with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project
• ▪The Trump administration objected to sharing the voter list of 20,930 suspected noncitizen California voters with outside organizations, characterizing the request as an improper fishing expedition involving sensitive personal information

Expert analysis of the Justice Department voter list

• ▪An expert analysis by the UCLA Voting Rights Project found that 8,880 names, or 42 percent of the 20,930 flagged by the Justice Department as suspected noncitizen voters, do not match California's voter rolls
• ▪UCLA researchers noted that the Department of Justice removed voter identification numbers from its list of 20,930 suspected noncitizen California voters, which hindered state officials from identifying duplicate entries or matching records

Justice Department demands to California officials

• ▪The Department of Justice issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles County election officials requiring testimony on November 4, 2026 regarding efforts to prevent noncitizens from voting
• ▪The Department of Justice demanded that California election officials separate and refrain from counting ballots submitted by 20,930 voters flagged as suspected noncitizens until citizenship status could be verified
• ▪U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned that election officials knowingly processing ballots cast by noncitizens would face federal criminal liability

California election officials' response

• ▪California election officials stated that processed mail-in ballots are completely anonymized and cannot be traced back to individual voters to satisfy Justice Department demands
• ▪California election officials complained that the Trump administration presented lists of suspected noncitizen voters at the last minute, leaving no time to perform legally required investigations before Election Day

Legal challenges and court rulings against federal actions

• ▪A coalition of labor unions including the AFL-CIO and AFSCME filed a lawsuit requesting a federal injunction to prevent the Department of Justice from threatening election officials with criminal prosecution
• ▪A federal judge in California ordered the Department of Justice on October 30, 2026 to stop sending demands to state election officials regarding its list of suspected noncitizen voters, which the Trump administration appealed on October 31, 2026
• ▪The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights argued in federal court that automated immigration data-matching risks disenfranchising naturalized U.S. citizens and deterring eligible voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections

Justice Department noncitizen voter efforts

• ▪The Department of Justice also provided a list of 400 alleged noncitizen voters to election officials in Washington state
• ▪Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten V. Pels stated that counting ballots cast by ineligible noncitizen voters cancels out legitimate votes cast by American citizens