U.S. officials based in California announced Monday that they have charged 28 green-card holders with offenses including fraudulent voter registration and other election crimes, arresting 11 of them in a broad push to eliminate fraud and uphold the integrity of U.S. elections.

Four of those charged reside in San Diego County and face accusations of illegally registering to vote and casting ballots during the 2024 election cycle.

Two individuals appeared for arraignment Monday at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse in San Diego, while warrants remain outstanding for the other two, according to a spokesperson for the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Green-card holders hold lawful permanent resident status but are not U.S. citizens and therefore are barred from voting in federal elections.

Initial reporting by inewsource highlighted five federal grand jury subpoenas issued to San Diego County voting officials along with similar requests sent to Imperial County.

Los Angeles County and Orange County also received subpoenas seeking voter records, based on coverage from the Los Angeles Times and CalMatters.

The subpoenas form part of a coordinated federal effort known as Operation Protect the Vote that involves all four California U.S. Attorney offices, the Justice Department, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Northern California District U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian explained that the charges stemmed from data obtained through subpoenas to the California secretary of state and various counties, cross-checked against Homeland Security records to identify noncitizens who allegedly registered and voted unlawfully.

He noted that the operation will continue through the election and afterward.

Officials reported that 155 people nationwide have faced voting-fraud charges since the start of the Trump administration, including 112 across 20 states in the past seven weeks, while the U.S. Election Assistance Commission recorded 158 million votes cast in 2024.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta acknowledged that voter fraud should be prosecuted yet described the 28 cases as isolated incidents representing just 0.0001 percent of the state’s 23 million registered voters.

The charges were unveiled at a Monday press conference in Los Angeles attended by the four California U.S. attorneys and Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter.

In San Diego County, a 51-year-old Philippine national living in National City and a 56-year-old Philippine national living in Escondido appeared in court Monday on charges of unlawful procurement of naturalization and false statements under oath; the 51-year-old also faces a false-claim-of-citizenship count.

The 56-year-old woman told investigators she believed she had become a citizen when her mother was naturalized, only learning otherwise in June while renewing her Social Security card.

Both defendants were released on bond without supervision, with the court citing their long community ties and full cooperation after living in the county for 30 and 40 years respectively.

The two additional defendants charged for actions tied to the November 2024 election are a 31-year-old Canadian national residing in San Diego and a 64-year-old Guatemalan national and former Oceanside resident now living in Moreno Valley.

The announcements followed a Trump administration lawsuit filed Thursday against California for missing a 48-hour deadline to examine a list of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters.

Central California District First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli stated that the arrests confirm California has mailed ballots to noncitizens and failed to enforce federal law prohibiting noncitizen voting, underscoring the need to protect citizens’ voting rights.

McCotter added that the 28 charged individuals appear on the list of 20,000 and that the Justice Department seeks an emergency court order to segregate any ballots cast by those individuals pending citizenship verification, while acknowledging possible errors on the list.