Federal agents arrested a Commerce man in his pajamas before dawn Monday, Oct. 19, in a statewide sweep charging 28 foreign nationals with election crimes.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the charges at a Los Angeles news conference. Officials called the operation the latest salvo in a fight with California over voter rolls ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election. The sweep, dubbed Operation Protect the Vote, involved all four of California's federal prosecutors' offices, Spectrum News reported.

All 28 defendants are lawful permanent residents, not U.S. citizens, according to court documents cited by KMPH. Charges include making false statements on naturalization applications and submitting fraudulent voter registrations. Some face felonies carrying up to five years in federal prison; others face misdemeanor counts.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter accused California officials of enabling the problem through poor voter roll maintenance. "This causes real damage to real elections and real damage to American citizens," McCotter said at the news conference.

Thirteen of the 28 defendants were charged in the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles County. Among them was Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, a Belize-born resident of Commerce. Federal agents arrived at Muñoz's residential cul-de-sac around 6 a.m., according to the New York Post, which had a reporter at the scene. Prosecutors allege Muñoz registered to vote in September 2019 by falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, then voted in four elections through 2024.

His wife, Esmeralda Muñoz, 70, told Spectrum News the family did not realize he was registered. She said agents arrived in full tactical gear with guns drawn. She called the arrest "a show" and said her husband has been a supporter of Trump.

The sweep escalated a dispute that began when the DOJ sued California on Oct. 15. State officials had missed a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive containing roughly 20,000 names, LA Magazine reported. The federal government says those names are likely noncitizens on voter rolls. California's secretary of state said the administration provided no evidence to support that claim.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan refused to open the thumb drive, which was delivered with a password on a sticky note. Logan called it an insecure medium in a statement to LA Magazine.

After Monday's arrests, Logan said his office is focused on conducting a fair election. He said the DOJ "has chosen to litigate their unverified assertions of voting eligibility" and that the matter is best addressed in court, according to Spectrum News.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said there is no widespread voter fraud in the state. He called isolated cases "a drop in the bucket" among California's 23 million registered voters and said the administration has offered no evidence of ineligible voters.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, countered that the state only requires voters to attest to citizenship without documentation. He said the arrests confirm that noncitizens are voting in California elections and that the state is not complying with federal law.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the effort "a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters," writing on X.

The DOJ said it has charged 113 people in 20 states over the past seven weeks for illegal voting or registration offenses. McCotter said the 20,000-name list is expected to grow.

The DOJ is seeking a court order forcing California to set aside suspected noncitizens' mail ballots before the Nov. 3 election.