Two Indians among 28 green card holders charged in US election fraud, DOJ says: Here's what we know

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday (local time) that two Indians were among 28 green card holders accused of fraudulently registering to vote in the US election, with most of them also accused of casting illegally obtained ballots. Law enforcement agencies have arrested 11 suspects in California, the department said.

Two Indians among 28 green card holders charged: What we know

The two Indians were identified as Amandeep Kaur, 30, and Kamlesh Shah, 67, according to a Justice Department statement. Kaur is an Indian citizen living in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, who is seeking US citizenship. She allegedly registered to vote fraudulently in December 2022 and later participated in the November 2024 US election.

Shah, who lived in Sacramento, allegedly fraudulently registered to vote on Election Day in November 2024 and voted that day. He was charged by information, a formal charging document filed by prosecutors.

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While Kaur faces a felony charge, a serious crime generally punishable by more than a year in prison, Shah is accused of voting as a foreigner in a federal election, a misdemeanor that carries a statutory maximum sentence of one year in federal prison.

Of the 28 people charged with voter fraud, 11 were arrested during Monday’s raids as part of “Operation Protect the Vote,” a coordinated effort by all four California-based U.S. attorneys’ offices to combat and root out U.S. election fraud. However, it was not clear whether the two Indians were among those arrested.

Here’s what the Justice Department had to say about the arrests

The Justice Department said: “All 28 foreign nationals charged are lawful permanent residents (LPRs) or ‘green card’ holders. Although LPRs have legal immigrant status in the United States, they are not US citizens and are not permitted to vote in US elections.”

The charges include making false statements on a citizenship application, with some of the defendants also accused of fraudulent voter registration. Both offenses are felonies with a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department said that on Oct. 13, federal authorities sent a list of individuals to California and asked the state to delay their mail-in ballots until their citizenship was verified. According to the federal government, California refused, prompting it to file a lawsuit seeking an injunction to delay the ballots. The government said the action aims to protect citizens’ votes from illegal dilution and ensure the integrity of elections.

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Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said, “Every illegal vote nullifies the vote of a lawful American citizen,” adding, “Each of the 28 defendants indicted today appears on a list of more than 20,000 likely non-citizens that we provided to California election officials last week. She refused to look at that list. Today’s indictments verify exactly what that refusal California citizens put 20,000 registrants at risk before mail-in ballots were counted.

The arrests came at a time when US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the country of electoral fraud. Trump shared the Justice Department’s warning on Truth Social, writing, “They’re all going to jail for a long time!!!” The department has warned California and Los Angeles County election officials that counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 people the administration has identified as likely noncitizens could expose them to prosecution for aiding and abetting a federal crime.

Before Monday’s raids, the Justice Department charged around 90 people with various forms of election misconduct in 2026, including 50 who allegedly voted despite not being citizens. According to reports, the US had more than 227 million registered voters during the 2024 presidential election.