The Department of Justice said Monday that investigators have identified more than 400 noncitizens illegally registered to vote in Washington state. Some allegedly cast ballots in multiple elections stretching back decades.
According to the US attorney’s offices for Washington’s Eastern and Western districts, many of those identified are green card holders with lawful immigration status and permanent residency.
“We have identified over 400 noncitizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections. This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Neil Floyd, acting US attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement.
“We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally.”
The announcement follows the DOJ’s legal action against Los Angeles County, where the department has sought to set aside about 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to people whose citizenship status is being questioned.
Immigration officials also told Fox News Digital Tuesday that dozens of noncitizens have been arrested across the country as part of a broad voter fraud crackdown.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Floyd said investigators found hundreds of potential noncitizen voters by examining US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) records. The records indicated that some people who had applied for certain benefits had also voted.
Some individuals had voted just once or three times in previous elections, while others had cast ballots as many as 27 times, Floyd said. His office counted approximately 1,500 instances in which noncitizens voted.
Floyd said some of the voting activity continued for decades, including years before Washington adopted its vote-by-mail system.
“I think the earliest moment we have is 1984,” Floyd said. “It’s early ‘90s, late ’80s, I believe.”
Floyd said he had not determined whether any of the people identified voted in the upcoming midterms, explaining that he did not want to “interfere with the current election.”
The more than 400 potential noncitizen voters may represent only a portion of the broader population, Floyd said, because investigators’ list includes only people who applied for certain benefits in Washington.
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“If you take that population, and you expand it out to include all the people that are here illegally that we haven’t had contact with, just my estimation is that it’s going to be in the thousands,” Floyd said.
Federal officials said many green card holders may have been registered without realizing it through Washington’s Motor Voter program, which links voter registration with the state Department of Licensing.
“We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program. Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered — that simply is not the case,” the notice said.
Washington’s secretary of state website says eligible residents are automatically registered to vote only after providing proof of US citizenship during the process of obtaining or registering a driver’s license or identification card.
The findings have led federal officials to examine broader weaknesses and recurring patterns in Washington’s voter registration process, Floyd said.
Under the DOJ notice, federal officials are asking Washington to set aside ballots cast by the identified individuals until their citizenship status can be independently confirmed.
“Washington is now on notice that noncitizens are voting. It is up to the state to take action to make sure that they are not allowing these noncitizens to vote illegally,” the notice said.
Officials cautioned that voting as a noncitizen can carry serious consequences for people seeking US citizenship. Possible criminal charges include making false statements on a naturalization application, while some individuals could also face prosecution for fraudulent voter registration.
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital numerous illegal aliens had also admitted to unlawfully registering to vote or casting ballots in US elections.
Of the dozens of suspects arrested, at least 18 had voted in a federal election.
The individuals were from a range of countries, including Mexico, Somalia, Honduras, Guyana, Cuba, Germany, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Vietnam, El Salvador, Cambodia, Guatemala, Portugal and Italy.
Many also faced charges for numerous alleged crimes, including counterfeiting, fraud, kidnapping, DUI, sexual offenses, assault with a dangerous weapon, drug possession and burglary.