The Trump administration is escalating its feud with California<\/a> over allegations of noncitizen voting, threatening on Friday to criminally prosecute election workers who knowingly tabulate ballots belonging to noncitizen voters.<\/p>\n “The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant,” Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, wrote in a letter to Los Angeles officials<\/a>. “Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime–and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful.”<\/p>\n McCotter continued: “If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.”<\/p>\n U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter speaks alongside U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah Melissa Holyoak during a press conference at the Department of Justice on September 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. McCotter announced that an election worker in Utah has been indicted for allegedly throwing away ballots. (<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Finn Gomez\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n President Donald Trump reposted the letter to his social media platform. In a follow-up post resharing the letter, Trump wrote “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”<\/p>\n The Justice Department’s threat to hold election workers criminally liable for noncitizen voting is not the Trump administration’s first such salvo. Over the summer, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin similarly warned<\/a> that election officials “can be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time.”<\/p>\n Department of Elections workers sort mail-in ballots for the California primary election at City Hall on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in San Francisco.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jeff Chiu\/AP Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Trump has made the issue of noncitizen voting a personal fixation despite scant evidence that it is widespread. The Justice Department has promoted dozens of arrests in recent weeks of alleged noncitizens who have voted in past cycles. But even those examples fall far short of the sort of figures that would tilt the scales in any outcomes.<\/p>\n![\"PHOTO:](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/7c14a52e-2e41-456a-9420-097f53b71a0f\/GettyImages-2296629218_1792203847708_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Division")
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