David Shapiro, a 41-year-old San Jose businessman from the country of Georgia who’s been a lawful U.S. resident since 2018 and has applied for citizenship, was stunned when a reporter called to ask about federal charges Monday alleging he’s among 28 foreign nationals in California who illegally registered and in many cases voted in U.S. elections.
“How could I even be voting?” he told the Bay Area News Group over the phone, adding he was unaware of the charges and denying he ever voted. “I’m not even a citizen.”
Shapiro was among several of the 28 accused who greeted news of the charges with bewilderment when asked by reporters. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Ana Domínguez, 60, a native of El Salvador living in Long Beach as a lawful permanent resident charged with illegally registering to vote 20 years ago and lying about it in naturalization paperwork earlier this year, had no recollection of registering. In Sacramento, 68-year-old Kamlesh Shah told KCRA that he thought he could vote because he had been issued a Real ID by the state.
The charges are part of the Trump administration’s broader effort, dubbed “Operation Protect the Vote,” to root out alleged voter fraud ahead of the midterms. The Justice Department sued California last week, seeking to block the counting of mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters federal officials claim are noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified. California’s Secretary of State has disputed the accuracy of the information and methodology supporting the list.
During a press conference on Monday, Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, said that the 28 individuals charged were on the list of 20,000 names that were sent to the state and Los Angles County last week and is now engaged in a lawsuit over.
“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a news conference. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.”
Rick Hasen, the director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said in an interview that some noncitizens have accidentally registered to vote through the DMV. California’s Motor Voter law allows individuals to register to vote when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license or ID card, though they must check a box that they swear they are a citizen under the penalty of perjury.
“There already is a very big disincentive to lie and say you’re a citizen when you’re not, as we see even making a mistake can open you up to criminal charges as well as potential deportation,” Hasen said. “So it’s not surprising we don’t see a lot of noncitizens voting, they’re just trying to keep their heads down and not break any American laws.”
Charging documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California indicate that Shapiro checked boxes declaring he was not a citizen on his driver’s license and identification card applications in 2019 and 2021.
On or around Nov. 5, 2024, however, prosecutors allege Shapiro submitted a voter declaration form on which he checked a box declaring himself a U.S. citizen and subsequently cast a ballot in the general election. Nearly two months later, on Dec. 26, 2024, Shapiro submitted another driver’s license and identification card application on which he indicated he was not a U.S. citizen.
In his naturalization application, submitted on or around Nov. 24, 2024, Shapiro answered “no” to questions asking whether he had ever claimed to be a U.S. citizen, registered to vote or voted in an election, according to the charging documents.
Shapiro said he had his naturalization interview last month.
“I have no idea what to say,” he said of the charges. “I’ve never dealt with the law. I’m shocked. I don’t even know what is my next move.”
The prosecutor handling the case did not respond to questions about the specific voter declaration form cited in the complaint and the evidence supporting the allegation that Shapiro cast a ballot.
Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters spokesperson Michael Borja said Tuesday in an email that “there is an individual registered to vote in our county” with Shapiro’s name, age, and country of origin.
“According to our records, they registered in 2024 and cast a ballot in the November 2024 General Election,” Borja said, while also noting that they do not have enough information to confirm that it’s the same individual being charged.
Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles also said in a statement that the county is “committed to safeguarding the integrity of our election processes and the accuracy of our voter rolls.”
Four other Californians among the 28 charged were from the Bay Area. Manakotau Mataele Finau, a Tongan national who lives in Hayward, according to charging documents, could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday. Federal charging documents say Finau became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 1969.
Prosecutors allege Finau registered electronically on Nov. 3, 2024, signed another registration form the following day and voted in the Nov. 5 general election. Both registration forms included declarations of U.S. citizenship, according to the charging documents, which did not identify the evidence supporting the voting allegation.
Prosecutors also allege Finau falsely denied previously claiming U.S. citizenship or voting in a U.S. election when applying for naturalization in July 2026. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters did not respond to a request for comment.
Also charged with illegally registering and voting were Moe Thida Lwin, 57, a Myanmar national and Daly City resident; Maribel del Carmen Garcés Barriga, 62, an Ecuadoran national and San Francisco resident, and Verónica Bullene, 43, also known as Verónica Hernández Martínez, a Mexican national living in Petaluma. They also could not be reached for comment.
Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, pushed back Tuesday on suggestions that those charged with registering and voting illegally simply made mistakes.
“Claims have evolved from ‘there are no ineligible voters’ to ‘only a very small number,’ then ‘it’s a common clerical error,’ and finally ‘they didn’t really mean to register and vote,” Essayli wrote in social media post. “None of these are legal defenses to criminal charges.”
This week’s charges are likely not the end of the growing row between California election officials and the Justice Department as the department filed a motion in federal court on Monday to block the state from counting mail ballots from the 20,000 voters it alleges are noncitizens.
The Department of Homeland Security recently made similar allegations against the state of Nevada, claiming that nearly 16,000 noncitizens were on its voter rolls. The department sent the state a list of 185 names that Nevada officials confirmed were all citizens, which Essayli also disputes.
“It’s meant to sow chaos,” Hasen said of the timing. “It’s meant to show Donald Trump that the Department of Justice is being aggressive in going after purported fraud.”
Staff Writer Kyle Martin and Researcher Veronica Martinez contributed to this report.