US Midterms 2026: How Trump’s voter fraud crackdown could affect immigrants seeking citizenship

As the US midterms approach, the Trump administration's crackdown on alleged non-citizen voting is putting the citizenship applications of immigrants in California at risk. More than two dozen legal permanent residents were charged this week with allegedly voting or registering to vote unlawfuly. Most had applied for US citizenship, and some now face felony charges that could lead to prison, deportation and the rejection of their naturalisation applications.

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According to an AP report, the cases are part of a wider administration effort to investigatealleged non-citizen voting before the midterms. Available data accessed by the AP shows that such voting is rare, difficult to prove, and has not been shown to change the outcome of the elections.


One of those charged is Amandeep Kaur, an immigrant who has lived in the US for eight years and is seeking citizenship, her husband Kulwinder Singh told AP.

Kaur obtained her driver's licence in 2024 and took the written test in Hindi because she struggles with English. Singh said she received and returned a ballot that year, but both believed it was a voter-registration form. He said he did not know whether she had registered to vote while obtaining her licence.

Kaur is now worried that she may have committed a crime. "All she does is cry. It's heartbreaking," Singh said.

Why voter registration can complicate US citizenship applications

The Justice Department said six people would be charged with voting as non-citizens, a misdemeanour. The other 22 face feloni charges linked to alleged false statements on naturalisation applications, during interviews or on voter registration forms.

Illegal voting by an immigrant can lead up to one year in prison. Lying on an application to become a US citizen can carry a sentence of up to 10 years.

Jose Antonio Banuelos-Diaz, 42, applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the US for 40 years. He had spent his entire adult life as a legal permanent resident.

Federal prosecutors allege that he improperly claimed to be a US citizen while registering to vote in 2007 and later lied about it on immigration paperwork. The government has not accused him of casting a ballot.

Banuelos-Diaz told AP that he did not know he had registered to vote until federal agents arrested him outside his Los Angeles home on Monday. He recalled obtaining a driver's licence around that time. In California, people are prompted to register to vote when applying for a licence.

"I have never voted because I know I can't vote," he said. "If there was a mistake, they should have called me out right away, not 20 years later."

He was released after his arrest but faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

In another case, Homeland Security agents arrested Pamele Arbues Line immediately after her naturalisation interview in San Diego on October 15.

Court documents allege that Line registered to vote five times and submitted ballots in several elections. She had stated in her citizenship paperwork and during the interview that she had never voted or claimed to be a US citizen.

Line, who is from the Philippines, later told authorities that she registered to vote while renewing her driver's licence and voted once, according to the documents.

She said she believed she was a US citizen because her mother became naturalised after they moved to the US more than four decades ago. Line was 19 at the time and was not covered by her mother's citizenship, according to the government.

She learned that she was not a citizen in June while seeking a renewed Social Security card. She then applied for naturalisation, the documents said. She faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted of two charges.

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California challenges federal voter list

The Justice Department has sued California for refusing to verify the citizenship of about 20,000 registered voters whom federal officials suspect may be noncitizens.

California has more than 23 million registered voters. State officials have said they comply with federal law and that the Trump administration's figures may be significantly inflated.

Election officials also said that once a ballot is mailed, it is separated from individual voter-identification information. This makes it impossible to determine whether a particular ballot was cast by a person identified through federal records.

The Department of Homeland Security has not said what initially led authorities to the immigrants charged. The agency said it reviewed naturalisation and other records during the investigation.

Some court documents refer to a benefits-fraud audit conducted by Homeland Security in August. That audit began the process of identifying people charged this week, according to the documents.

"The voting rights of American citizens must be protected," First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement announcing the charges.

Naturalisation approvals fall

The crackdown comes as the administration has increased immigration enforcement and slowed the approval of citizenship applications.

Government data showed that officials approved 58,000 naturalisation applications between April and June 2026, less than a quarter of the number approved during the same period in 2025, according to AP.

Permanent residents can apply for US citizenship after holding a green card for at least three years. Applicants must answer detailed questions about voting, political activity and criminal history, pass background checks and a civics test, and meet English-language requirements.

For immigrants preparing for the midterms, the cases in California have added uncertainty to a process that can already take years.