Bañuelos-Díaz says he did not know he had registered to vote
Most of the immigrants federal authorities targeted in California this week over alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews, The Associated Press reported. The charges could lead to years in prison and thwart the immigrants’ efforts to naturalize.
Federal authorities charged 28 legal permanent residents on Monday in cases involving allegations that they illegally voted or registered to vote. The Justice Department said six people would be charged with voting as a noncitizen, a misdemeanor, while the 22 others faced a combination of felony charges, including lying on naturalization applications during interviews or on voter-registration forms.
As of Thursday morning, the government had filed charging documents in 10 of the 28 cases, adding detail about how authorities relied on voter-registration data to pursue broader criminal charges around immigration status. Most of the charged immigrants had lived in the United States for at least five years, and some had lived there for decades. Voter data showed them registered as Republicans, Democrats and independents, and the charged immigrants could face deportation if they lied on a citizenship application.
The potential consequences extend beyond the voter-registration allegations. The charges could lead to years in prison and thwart the immigrants’ efforts to naturalize. Immigrants convicted of illegally voting in the United States face up to one year in prison, while those convicted of lying on applications to become U.S. citizens face up to a decade, according to The Associated Press.
José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, is among those charged. He applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the country for 40 years and spending his entire adult life as a legal permanent resident.
Federal charging documents allege that Bañuelos-Díaz improperly claimed to be a citizen in 2007 when registering to vote. The government alleges he later lied about the citizenship claim on immigration paperwork. The U.S. government has not accused Bañuelos-Díaz of casting a ballot; its allegations instead concern what he said when registering to vote and on later immigration paperwork.
Bañuelos-Díaz told The Associated Press that he had no idea he had registered to vote until he was arrested Monday outside his Los Angeles home. He recalled receiving a driver’s license around 2007. “I have never voted because I know I can’t vote,” Bañuelos-Díaz said. “If there was a mistake, they should have called me out right away, not 20 years later.” He was released from custody after his arrest but faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
California prompts people to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license, The Associated Press reported. Bañuelos-Díaz recalled receiving a driver’s license around 2007, while charging documents place his alleged false citizenship claim in that year. The accounts differ over whether Bañuelos-Díaz knew he had registered to vote: federal charging documents allege that he claimed citizenship, but Bañuelos-Díaz said he had no idea until federal authorities arrested him.
Pamele Arbues Line is another person charged. Homeland Security agents arrested her immediately after an Oct. 15 naturalization interview in San Diego. Federal charging documents allege that Line registered to vote five times and submitted ballots in several elections but said in her paperwork and interview that she had never voted or claimed to be a U.S. citizen. The documents say she later admitted registering while renewing her driver’s license the previous year and said she voted once.
Line, who is from the Philippines, told authorities she thought she was a U.S. citizen because her mother had become naturalized after they moved to the United States more than four decades ago. Line, now 56, was 19 at the time and was not covered by her mother’s citizenship, according to the government. She learned she was not a citizen in June when she went to get a renewed Social Security card, and she told agents she applied for naturalization the same day, according to the documents. She faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted of two charges.
The Associated Press described the cases as part of a Trump administration effort to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections, even though data show the problem is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.
The Justice Department has sued California for not complying with a request to verify the citizenship of roughly 20,000 registered voters it says may be noncitizens. California, which has more than 23 million registered voters, has argued that the state complies with federal law and that the Trump administration’s numbers are likely significantly inflated. State election officials also said that once a ballot is mailed in, it is separated from any individual voter identification, making separation based on the information provided by the federal government impossible.
Beyond voting, the Trump administration has also ramped up immigration enforcement nationwide and slowed down the approval of naturalization applications. Government data show that officials approved 58,000 naturalization applications between April and June 2026, less than a quarter of the number approved in the same period in 2025. Immigrants can apply to become U.S. citizens after holding green cards for at least three years; they must answer extensive questions about voting, political activities and crime, pass background checks and a civics test, and meet English-language requirements.
It is unclear what initially led authorities to the charged immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security did not say what drew attention to them but said in an email that the agency reviewed naturalization and other records. Some court documents describe a benefits-fraud audit performed by Homeland Security in August that started the process of identifying those charged that week. “The voting rights of American citizens must be protected,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement announcing the charges this week.
Amandeep Kaur is also among those charged. Her husband, Kulwinder Singh, said she had lived in the country for eight years and was in the process of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. Singh said she got a driver’s license in 2024 but took the written test at the DMV in Hindi because she struggles with English. He said he does not know if she registered to vote then. He also said she received and returned a ballot in 2024, but they both thought it was a registration form. After the charges, Singh said his wife was distraught with the news that she may have done something illegal. “All she does is cry. It’s heartbreaking,” said Singh, who is a U.S. citizen.