Lea la versión en español.
The Trump administration’s claims of widespread voting by non-citizens came to Sonoma County on Monday.
Among the 28 people charged with federal crimes under Operation Protect the Vote, the U.S. Department of Justice’s roundup of California residents it says registered to vote illegally, was a 43-year-old Petaluma woman named Verónica Bullene.
According to the complaint filed Monday by the DOJ, Bullene also goes by the name Verónica Hernández Martínez. Prosecutors claim the Mexico-born woman made false statements on her naturalization application, registered to vote in 2022 and 2023, and cast a ballot in 2024.
Bullene is a legal permanent resident, often referred to as a green card holder. People with that status enjoy a wide range of rights in America, but they cannot vote in federal, state or most local elections.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse signed a warrant for Bullene’s arrest Oct. 16. She had not been arrested when the government filed defendant information earlier this week.
Bullene faces four counts, a mix of felonies and misdemeanors. The most serious of the counts, attempted procurement of naturalization contrary to law, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and “potential immigration consequences.”
Bullene’s husband, Daniel, did not respond to phone calls or texts. No one answered the door at the couple’s apartment Tuesday afternoon, on a block in downtown Petaluma. A nextdoor neighbor who was home at the time did not answer a reporter’s knock.
Bullene is currently represented by the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California, according to a staff member in the agency’s San Francisco office. The Press Democrat was unable to connect with her lawyer.
The voting-related crackdown was heralded in a press release by the DOJ, treated with skepticism by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, and slammed by immigrant advocacy groups who claim the department used dubious private sources to compile a list of 20,000 “likely noncitizen registrants” it has demanded the state investigate.
Rep. Jared Huffman, appearing in Petaluma along with Rep. Mike Thompson on Tuesday, noted when answering a question about ICE enforcement that the House Administrative Committee has been meeting with election attorneys, academics and watchdog groups “to identity all the different ways this administration could attempt to frighten and confuse and contest and suppress and mess with this election.”
John Burgess / The Press Democrat
Re. Mike Thompson, right, and Rep. Jared Huffman hosted a Roundtable discussion on the state of Social Security with local public and private sector leaders Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
The 28 people charged in Operation Protect the Vote live across a wide swath of California and hail from 14 different countries.
Bullene is one of nine who immigrated from Mexico.
In its criminal complaint, the government says she received Legal Permanent Resident status in December 2020, a little over a year after she applied. In November 2022, prosecutors contend, Bullene submitted an electronic driver’s license application to the California Department of Motor Vehicles; under the section marked “Voter Eligibility and Registration,” she marked “No” next to a question asking whether she was a U.S. citizen.
Four days later, according to federal prosecutors, Bullene submitted a signed same-day voter registration form in Humboldt County — the DOJ complaint mistakenly refers to the city of “Gerberville” instead of Garberville — checking a box indicating she was a U.S. citizen. She voted that day, according to agency.
The next year, prosecutors attest, Bullene registered to vote in Sonoma County. She cast another ballot in November 2024, though the court filings suggest that was done in San Francisco.
In October 2025, the complaint further alleges, Bullene submitted an application for naturalization — that is, full citizenship. That form asks applicants whether they have ever previously claimed to be a U.S. citizen, or voted in an election. Bullene marked “No” both times, prosecutors contend.
The Department of Justice never contacted Sonoma County before filing charges, Registrar of Voters Evelyn Mendez told The Press Democrat. She didn’t learn of the case against Bullene until she was contacted by another reporter.
Mendez was underwhelmed by the DOJ’s publicly available evidence so far.
“I’m not investigating it,” she said. “The information on there for the voter is not enough for us to look someone up. There’s no date of birth. There’s no address. The information is kind of vague. Where did they get this from? Where did they get the history of that voter?”
Mendez had an additional question: “Why is this coming up now, 15 days before the election?” she wondered.
Several defendants who spoke to other media outlets expressed puzzlement at accusations that they voted in the U.S., or denied the claim outright.
“How could I even be voting?” a Georgian emigrant and San Jose resident named David Shapiro said to the Mercury News. “I’m not even a citizen.”
Omar Muñoz, 72, a lawful permanent resident from Belize, was arrested at his home in Commerce early Monday morning, the Los Angeles Times reported. Photographers, apparently tipped off by the DOJ, were there to capture the moment.
Homeland Security Investigations task force officers escort a suspect accused of illegally registering to vote during a federal operation in Commerce, Calif., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Muñoz shuffled into court later that day, still wearing the pajamas he was arrested in, shackled at the waist with his feet cuffed. His daughter told the Times that Muñoz is recovering from cervical surgery, rotator cuff repair on a shoulder and a double knee replacement.
Seven of the Operation Protect the Vote defendants are not even accused of casting ballots, only misleading immigration official on their citizenship forms.
Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law, questioned whether mistakenly registering to vote or casting a ballot is a violation of the law.
“We know from past experience that sometimes people register to vote accidentally, as when there is a mistake at the DMV,” Hasen wrote Monday in a blog post. “There is only a crime if the government can prove willful violations of federal law.”
That perspective was dismissed by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, who has vigorously attempted to enforce President Donald Trump’s mission to clear thousands of names from California voter rolls in the run-up to a general election that could see Republicans lose both chambers of Congress.
“You have to go out of your way to register to vote; it’s not something that just happens to you,” Essayli told The Los Angeles Times.
The defendants have been ordered to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Nov. 9.
DOJ attorneys requested that Bullene’s case be sealed. As of Tuesday, it did not appear in the federal court database.
You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.