DOJ has verified 20,000 noncitizens on California voter rolls, federal prosecutor says
A top federal prosecutor in California said federal investigators have determined that all 20,000 people they flagged on the state's voter rolls as "likely noncitizens" are not U.S. citizens.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for California's Central District, told Fox News Digital that federal investigators have evidence that t hese 20,000 individuals received mail ballots this month .
His office sued California last week seeking a court order to prevent any ballots they return from being counted.
"We're not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens," Essayli said in an interview on Wednesday.
"We believe it's at a minimum of 20,000.
That's the floor." The potential ceiling, he said, is much larger.
Essayli referenced a letter Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent to California in July that flagged nearly 200,000 voters as possible noncitizens .
DOJ OFFICIAL DEFENDS TRUMP'S NONCITIZEN VOTER PROBE ON '60 MINUTES,' ACCUSES SHOW OF EDITING OUT HER ANSWERS Since then, federal investigators have been sifting through those records to identify people they believe they can verify as noncitizens.
He said 20,000 is only the current tally and expects thousands more names to be added in the coming days.
In court filings, California election officials have pushed back against the Justice Department's demands, arguing that county election offices lack both the authority and access to federal records needed to verify voters' citizenship status.
They have also said that sequestering ballots from people on the DOJ list is impossible in cases where the ballots have already been processed.
Once a ballot's signature is verified, it is removed from its identifying envelope and processed alongside other ballots, meaning it can no longer be traced back to an individual voter.
STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS SHARING PASSPORT RECORDS FOR VOTER CITIZENSHIP CHECKS "That is true.
That's why we're getting an emergency court order requiring them to put those ballots aside," Essayli said.
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