Two Indians among 28 green card holders charged with election fraud in California

Two Indian nationals are among 28 green card holders charged with election-related offences in California, including fraudulent voter registration and voting in the November 2024 US elections, the US Department of Justice said on Monday.The accused Indians have been identified as Amandeep Kaur, 30, a resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, and Kamlesh Shah, 67, who lives in Sacramento. It was not immediately clear whether either of them was among the 11 people arrested during early morning raids across California under ‘Operation Protect the Vote’.According to the Justice Department, Shah fraudulently registered to vote on the day of the November 2024 general election and cast his ballot the same day.

Kaur, who is seeking US citizenship, allegedly registered to vote in December 2022 and voted in the November 2024 election.“All 28 foreign nationals charged are lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or 'green card' holders. Although LPRs have legal immigration status in the United States, they are not US citizens and are not permitted to vote in US elections,” the Justice Department said.The charges include making false statements in naturalisation applications and fraudulent voter registration.

Both offences are felonies that carry a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.DOJ links accused to voter registration listActing Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said all 28 defendants appeared on a list of more than 20,000 people the Justice Department had provided to California election officials the previous week.“Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week,” McCotter told reporters in Los Angeles.The charges come amid an escalating dispute between the Trump administration and California officials over allegations of non-citizen voter registration. The Justice Department has also asked a federal court to prevent California and Los Angeles County from processing ballots returned by people on the list, arguing that votes cast illegally could undermine election integrity.California officials have opposed the demand, saying the federal government has not provided sufficient evidence to establish that those listed are non-citizens.

They have also argued that withholding or refusing to count ballots could violate federal and state law and disenfranchise eligible voters.Trump administration steps up election investigationsThe Justice Department has intensified investigations into alleged election-related offences as early voting begins in several states. Before Monday’s announcement, it had charged about 90 people with various forms of election misconduct this year, including 50 accused of voting as non-citizens.The department said on Monday that it had charged 113 non-citizens across 20 states with voting and registration offences over the preceding seven weeks.Election law experts have cautioned that such cases do not establish widespread non-citizen voting. They have also warned that aggressive efforts to scrutinise voter rolls could risk removing eligible voters or undermining public confidence in elections.California officials have questioned the Justice Department’s methodology for identifying the 20,000 people, while the federal government has argued that access to additional voter registration data would help verify their citizenship status.