Some ‘probable’ non-citizens in California found by DOJ may have been born in the US: NPR

People vote at a polling place at Metro headquarters during the California state primary election in Los Angeles, California, June 2, 2026.

Frédéric J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

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Frédéric J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The Justice Department is demanding that California take the unprecedented step of segregating ballots associated with 20,000 people who the department says are “probably” noncitizens. But an initial review by local authorities suggests the list is “unreliable” and that some people on it have indicated in their records that they were born in the United States and therefore could be citizens.

The new details come from documents filed Tuesday by California state and local officials, in response to a lawsuit filed by the federal government in an attempt to force the state to investigate thousands of people before their votes are counted. The state says doing what the DOJ is asking would be impractical as the election approaches and would likely violate federal and state election laws.

“At best, this litigation is a reckless political stunt,” the state wrote in its filing Tuesday. “At worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians in this election.”

The saga began in earnest last week when the Justice Department handed Los Angeles County a USB drive containing a list of about 20,000 people who Department of Homeland Security investigators say are “probably noncitizens” and registered to vote somewhere in California.

Initially, county officials refused to open the list, citing the security threat of inserting a USB drive of unknown origin into a government computer. The next day, the DOJ emailed a spreadsheet containing the same list.

Of the 20,000 names on the list, only 7,035 had addresses in Los Angeles County and some were duplicates, according to another court filing Tuesday by Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan.

In court filings, Los Angeles County officials wrote that they took a sample of 200 people to get a sense of the reliability of the federal government’s data.

“The review is preliminary and quality control continues, but it indicates that the October list is unreliable,” wrote Monica Flores, Los Angeles County deputy registrar-recorder.

Among voters whose place of birth was “significantly indicated,” Flores wrote, “38.9 percent indicate they were born in the United States, which is strong proof of citizenship.”

It is not clear how many people this represents in total or the details of the records showing place of birth. NPR reached out to the Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office for clarification on the numbers listed in court documents, but as of Tuesday evening had not yet received a response.