Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / DOJ vs. California, 28 Charged: The Battle Over Non-Citizen Voting

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DOJ vs. California, 28 Charged: The Battle Over Non-Citizen Voting · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I told him a long time ago, you're making a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: big mistake in France. You're letting everybody from the world
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: come in. The whole world was coming in. And, you know,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: as you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim
• 0:10
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  Speaker 1: I said, you're making a big mistake. We closed our borders.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: He didn't. And you know what? His voters are a problem.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Good Tuesday morning. Nice to have you with us on
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: the 47 Morning Update. And we've got a very big
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: story for you. It involves voter fraud, illegal immigrants, Democrats
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: looking the other way, and the Trump administration prosecuting.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a lot to unpack.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: But what we now know is there are people behind
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: bars right now who are in this country and had
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: no right to vote because they were not American citizens.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: So how widespread could this be across the country?
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: We break that down for you in a moment.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Before we get to that, the midterm elections are heating
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: up and congressional control in President Trump's agenda.
• 1:01
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• 2:34
  Speaker 4: It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Story number one.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: We are just 15 days away from one of the
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: most consequential midterm elections in recent history. It is one
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: that's extremely important because the Democratic Socialists of America want
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: to take over the country. And right now, we have
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: a new major development involving election security, illegal voter registrations,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: and now allegations that foreign nationals have already cast ballots
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: in American elections. Not just tried to register, not just
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: filled out the paperwork.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: No, no, no, no. Federal prosecutors.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: At the direction of the President of the United States
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: of America, Donald Trump, are now saying some of these
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: individuals actually voted, canceling out your vote in American elections
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: despite not even being an American citizen.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Now, let me bring you to.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: The number one point that I want to make about
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: what I'm about to explain to you, and that's this.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: This is exactly what I voted for. I voted for
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: President Donald Trump, and many of you did as well,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: because you wanted there to actually be justice brought to
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: a fraudulent system.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: You wanted to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: That includes those that are voting in our elections that
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: should not be allowed to. Now, for years, we've debated
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: the security of our elections. Democrats have downplayed it, saying
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: there's nothing there. Everybody relax. Look the other way. But
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: we also now know the reality. And we know that
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: we cannot always verify who is a citizen when they're
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: voting in our elections. It was designed to be that way,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: by the way, by the Democrats. So what safeguards even exist,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: by the way, to prevent somebody who's not an American
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: citizen from participating in an election that determines who governs
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: this country? That is a legitimate question. And federal prosecutors
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: are now presenting specific cases, they say, involving individuals who
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that illegally registered, falsely then claimed American citizenship, and in
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: some cases, voted repeatedly. Now, according to the report by
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: the Associated Press, before today's California announcement, the Justice Department
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: had already charged more than 90 people with various forms
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: of election misconduct in 2026. That includes roughly 50 people
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: accused of voting despite not being American citizens. Now, these
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: cases raise a question worth also examining. Where did the
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: safeguards fail in so many instances where prosecutors have now
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: been able to identify what is actually happening? Because when
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: somebody allegedly registers to vote by falsely claiming citizenship. We
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: need to understand how that registration was approved by our government.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: And by the way, when somebody casts a ballot, not
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: in one election, but multiple elections, who are illegal immigrants,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: I think we all can agree we need to understand
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: why the problem wasn't identified at some point during all
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: those illegal ballots that were being casted and counted against
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: actual Americans. Now, investigators also say they uncovered potential violations.
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  Speaker 3: Americans deserve to know whether election officials, by the way,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: are taking appropriate actions or deliberately, based on what we're
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: now learning, may have been looking the other way, knowing
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: that illegal immigrants were voting in our elections. And here's
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: another important point here. The Justice Department says its recent
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: prosecutions involve several different kinds of alleged misconduct, including false
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: statements about citizenship, fraudulent registrations voting by non-citizens and other
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: election related offenses now these cases all have different people
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: involved different charges different legal standards but the main point
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: is this election day is november the third and millions
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: of americans are preparing to cast their ballots and in
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: states like california voting by mail it's already underway In fact,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: where you're listening right now, there's a very good chance
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: you may have already early voted right now. Now, California
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: automatically mails ballots to registered voters. It's just waiting and
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: asking for massive fraud. That system solely depends on the
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: accuracy of the voter rolls. And we know how bad
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: voter rolls are around the entire country. If somebody is
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: improperly registered, the question becomes whether the state identifies the
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: error before a ballot is issued.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: And then counts it. And apparently they don't do that
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: very well either.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Now, if somebody is improperly registered to vote, then what
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: should happen to them after the fact when the state
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: finds it? And why is it the state keeps looking
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: the other way? Or is it because the system is
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: designed to have fraud in it? And that helps the
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: party that is in power, a.k.a. the Democrats in California. Now,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: just last week, the Justice Department provided California with a
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: list of more than 20,000 individuals they have identified already
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: as likely non-citizens appearing on voter rolls. To be clear,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: that is 20,000 illegal immigrants that could be voting in
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: our elections, and that also means they would be canceling
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: out an American citizen's vote. 20,000 that they've identified. They're
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: expecting there to be more, by the way. Federal officials
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: asked the state to review the list and take steps
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: to ensure ballots from individuals whose citizenship could not be
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: confirmed were set aside pending verification. What is California doing
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: in response? Nothing to fix the problem. Which goes back
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: to this point. Has a system in California deliberately been
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: set up so that Democrats can cheat, have a better
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: chance of winning every election. The Secretary of State, Shirley Weber,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: argued that the federal government had not substantiated its allegations
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: and that removing eligible voters to close to an election could, quote,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: violate federal law and disenfranchise American citizens. And that's when
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: the Trump administration responded. The Justice Department filed suit.
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  Speaker 4: Now, there's an important distinction here.
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  Speaker 3: Being included on a list of suspected non-citizens does not
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: prove that somebody is actually ineligible to vote. And that's exactly,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: by the way, what the Trump administration is saying. But
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  Speaker 3: the government is also saying, we believe that these names
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: are individuals who are not American citizens. And so the
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Justice Department has said, we're not stopping. We're going to
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: keep going. And then you look at this most recent announcement.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: You've got 28 people facing federal criminal charges that were
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: among the names that have been identified. That is a
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: major development because federal prosecutors say these are not simply
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: hypothetical concerns anymore that two politicians are debating on stage.
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  Speaker 3: These are real cases involving real allegations of voting by
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: people that aren't even Americans. Now, think about the question
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  Speaker 3: that creates. Was this registration reviewed properly and was it
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  Speaker 3: actually reviewed? And then they said, hey, we believe this
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: person is going to vote for a liberal or a Democrat.
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  Speaker 4: So it's OK to keep them voting in our elections.
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  Speaker 3: Because when you import millions of legal immigrants, could it
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: be that this was part of the plan all along?
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: You have a ton of people come in. You then
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: hope that some of them go ahead and try to
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: register to vote. And if you are registered to vote
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: as an illegal immigrant and you vote, are you really
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: that concerned about being deported if you're in a sanctuary
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: city or a sanctuary state? That's part of why California
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: is so ripe for waste, fraud and abuse. This is
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: exactly why I'll go back to the point I made earlier.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I voted for the president of the United States of America,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump. All of these questions should have been answered,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: by the way, in California long before November 3rd elections.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: The election security is not simply about catching somebody after
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: an election. It should be about preventing unlawful ballots from
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: being cast in the first place or being cast and
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: being counted in to ensure that every eligible American can
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: actually exercise their right to vote, and now just two
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: weeks out until the midterms, and the federal government is
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: having to do the job that California refuses to do.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: They're having to look people straight in the face and say, hey,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: we're not sure your elections are actually that safe. 28
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: people charged, 11 arrests confirmed at the initial announcement, 21
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: individuals accused of actually voting and allegations involving elections dating
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: back several years. Now, this operation that Donald Trump has
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: been talking about for a long time, it's got a
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: name now. Operation Protect the Vote. And when you hear
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: what federal prosecutors say happened in these individual cases. you're
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: going to understand why this investigation is attracting national attention. Now,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: the United States Department of Justice announced that these 28
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: foreign nationals have been charged with federal election crimes in
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: a coordinated investigation known as Operation Protect the Vote. Federal
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: authorities also have now confirmed that 11 individuals have been
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: arrested as of their initial announcement, and they believe additional
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: arrests are also expected as this continues to expand in
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: the investigation. And this is not, by the way, simply
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: a local investigation involving one county. The operation, they say,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: involves all four federal U.S. attorney's offices in California, meaning
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: they believe that this, well, is widespread voter fraud happening
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: in California. Now, the operation, they say, is important because
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: federal prosecutors say the defendants not only fraudulently registered to vote,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: And 21 of them are suspected of actually casting ballots
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: in our elections.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Now, this is also a critical detail.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: All 28 defendants are, quote, lawful permanent residents. They are
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: green card holders, we're being told. That means they have
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: legal permission to live in the United States of America.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: But having a green card is not the same thing
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: as being an American citizen. And lawful permanent residents are
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: not eligible to vote in federal elections. According to the
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Justice Department, investigators uncovered allegations that individuals falsely claimed.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: American citizenship when registering to vote.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Now, you would think that we'd have like, I don't know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: a basic database in America that you could check and say,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: hold on a second. This person or that person isn't
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: actually an American citizen.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: But apparently, and this isn't a joke, we don't.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: In some cases, prosecutors say defendants subsequently applied for naturalization
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: and falsely denied having previously claimed citizenship or participated in
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: American elections. Now, that matters because making false statements on
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: a naturalization application and submitting fraudulent voter registrations can carry
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: serious federal penalties. Now, some of these felony charges announced
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: also carry maximum sentences of five years in federal prison.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: And the details of individual cases are especially important. You
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: have one guy by the name of Alexander Munoz. He's
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: one of the individuals identified in the reporting. He's a
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: national from Belize. According to federal investigators, he registered to
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: vote in California in 2019. They now allege that he
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: falsely claimed to be an American citizen. But that's not
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: where the allegation's in. Authorities say that the man voted
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: in elections in 2020. 2022 and 2024. They further alleged
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: that he voted twice during the 2022 election cycle.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Now, if you think about that timeline for.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Just a second, 2019 allegedly registered to vote. All right,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: so there's your first offense. Then in 2020, you cast
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: a ballot. That would be offense number two. Then in 2022,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: you vote twice during that election cycle. That would be
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: two more offenses. And then in 2024, you voted again.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: And now, in October, we have federal prosecutors who have
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: finally brought charges to make sure this man doesn't get
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: to vote again. Now, the individual is also accused of
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: falsely stating on his naturalization paperwork that he never claimed
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: to be a U.S.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: Citizen.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: We now know that's a lie and all of this
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: is now going to be well put out in court.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Now they raise also serious questions about.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: How someone who is not legally eligible to vote could
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: remain registered to vote and participate across multiple election cycles
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: at the local state and federal level. Now this guy
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: is not the only defendant accused of voting repeatedly and
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: There's other cases across California. According to the Justice Department announcement,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: one person by the name of Gonzalez, a Mexican national
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: living in California, prosecutors allege that she registered to vote
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: in 2020 while falsely indicating she was an American citizen.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: They say she subsequently voted in elections in 2022, twice
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: in 2024, and again in 2025. That's a lot of
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: votes to be canceling out if you're an illegal immigrant.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Another defendant, a Guatemalan national living in Fresno, California. They
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: allege that he fraudulently registered in 2017 and voted in
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: the 2022 primary and November 2024 general election. Then there's
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: another individual, a guy out of Mexico living in Kerman.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Prosecutors accused him of knowingly voting in three American elections
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: despite not being an American citizen.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: And here's what makes this case even more interesting.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: According to the Justice Department, the most recent election in
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: which he allegedly voted was the June 2026 primary. Now,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: that's just four months ago. Another defendant, a Filipino national
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: living in California, is accused of registering to vote on
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Election Day in November of 2024. Prosecutors say he falsely
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: certified American citizenship and voted that same day. Now, all
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: of these cases present a wide range of vulnerabilities to
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: our system.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: So forget the people right now. Just think about the vulnerabilities.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Registration years before an election, repeated participation over multiple election cycles,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: and same-day registration followed by voting illegally in California. If
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: you want to know where to go vote if you're
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: not an American citizen, apparently it's California. Now, the investigation
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: is unfolding against the backdrop of a legal battle between
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Trump and California as well. Last week, the Justice Department
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: sent California lists containing those more than 20,000 people that
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: it had identified as likely non-citizens on voter rolls. Federal
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: officials asked California to verify their citizenship status and segregate
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: ballots where eligibility could not be established. California, of course,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: said no. The officials argued that the allegations had not
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: been adequately verified and warned that last-minute changes to voter
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: rolls could wrongly prevent, they say, eligible citizens from voting.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: So who cares if there's a bunch of legals out
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: there voting? We're going to put them ahead of you
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: no matter what. Now, the acting Deputy Attorney General out
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: there argued that the changes demonstrated by California need to
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: review the federal government's information. The first assistant U.S. attorney
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: said that the investigation supported federal concerns about non-citizens that
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: may be registered in record numbers in California. There's also
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: one other thing. 28 criminal cases does not seem like
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: it's as many as could be out there. There are
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: some saying, well, it's not like this is 20,000 cases.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: It's just a couple of cases calmed down. This is
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: what we are being told is literally the, quote, tip.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Of the iceberg.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: listening to this podcast right now. And for more in-depth news,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast, and we will
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: see you back here tomorrow.