Los Angeles:Two Indian nationals are among 28 foreign nationals charged by US federal authorities in California for allegedly registering illegally and voting in American elections despite not being US citizens, the justice department announced on Monday.
The two Indians were identified as Amandeep Kaur, 30, a resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, and Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, who lives in Sacramento.
According to the justice department, Kaur, who is seeking US citizenship, allegedly registered to vote in December 2022 and cast a ballot in the November 2024 election. Shah allegedly registered to vote on the day of the November 2024 general election and voted the same day.
The charges were announced as part of “Operation Protect the Vote”, a coordinated investigation involving all four US Attorney’s Offices in California. Federal authorities arrested 11 foreign nationals on Monday, while a total of 28 were charged.
All 28 are lawful permanent residents, commonly known as green card holders, but are not American citizens and are therefore ineligible to vote in US federal elections.
The charges include fraudulent voter registration and making false statements in naturalisation applications. Some offences carry a maximum prison sentence of five years, while illegal voting charges in other cases carry a maximum of one year.
The arrests come amid an escalating dispute between President Donald Trump’s administration and California authorities over alleged noncitizen voting ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
The justice department has sued California, seeking to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters it suspects are noncitizens until their eligibility is verified.
California officials have disputed the allegations, saying the federal government has not provided sufficient evidence to establish that the voters concerned are ineligible.
Acting deputy attorney general Trent McCotter said the 28 defendants were among those identified in the federal government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters.
All the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
