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The US Department of Justice says it has charged 28 green card holders in California with election crimes. In a statement issued on October 19, the department said 11 of them were arrested in raids across the state as part of “Operation Protect the Vote”. Two of the 28 are Indian nationals, and the department has named both.

Amandeep and Kamlesh are charged in different federal districts. Amandeep Kaur’s case sits in the Central District of California, where the department says defendants face felony charges, including false statements in a naturalisation application. Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah’s case sits in the Eastern District, where the charge is voting by an alien in a federal election. The department says that it is a misdemeanour with a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison.

In the wider case, the department says the charges include false statements in naturalisation applications and fraudulent voter registration. It says both are felonies with a maximum sentence of five years.

The Justice Department says all 28 people charged are lawful permanent residents. It says they have legal immigration status but are “not US citizens” and cannot vote in US elections. According to court papers cited by the department, the defendants stated under oath on their voter forms that they were US citizens.

The arrests are part of “Operation Protect the Vote”, which the department says is a joint effort by the four US Attorney’s Offices in California to tackle election fraud.

The department says it gave California a list of the 28 people on October 13 so their mail-in ballots could be set aside until their citizenship was checked. It says California declined, and the US government has sued the state.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said all 28 appear on a list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants that the department sent to state officials. He said California must check the citizenship of those registrants before it counts mail-in ballots.

Those arrested were due to make their first court appearances on October 19, and the department said no pleas would be taken that day.