A 72-year-old man raided by federal agents over alleged illegal voting in California has been identified by his wife as a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump.
Omar Alexander Muñoz, a Belizean green card holder living in Commerce, a small city in Los Angeles County, was among 11 people arrested Monday in a statewide sweep the Justice Department calls Operation Protect the Vote. The sweep is part of a Trump administration push to crack down on noncitizen voting before next month’s midterms. Such cases are rare and difficult to prove, and there’s no evidence they’ve changed the result of any election, the Associated Press reported.
His wife, Esmeralda Muñoz, 70, described his politics to the AP after agents took him from the family’s home.
According to the AP, Esmeralda Muñoz said her husband has been a “vociferous” supporter of Trump when the family talks about politics.
She said she, their three children and their 10 grandchildren are all U.S. citizens, while her husband is a legal permanent resident, the AP reported. She also said the family did not realize he was registered to vote. Muñoz’s daughter, Lliani Orantes, told the Los Angeles Times her family was trying to figure out whether he had been mixed up with relatives who have the same name, such as his U.S.-born son, a registered voter.
Dozens of federal agents descended on the family’s cul-de-sac to make the arrest, according to the AP. Esmeralda Muñoz said the agents arrived before dawn in full tactical gear with guns drawn. Omar Muñoz was handcuffed in his pajamas and taken into federal custody in downtown Los Angeles, the AP reported.
“It’s a show for them,” Esmeralda Muñoz said, calling it a “shame” that officials arrived with camera crews and news helicopters, according to the AP.
As agents led Omar Muñoz away, a family member told them, “You all need to get a job,” according to the New York Post.
Omar Muñoz registered to vote in September 2019 by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, according to the Justice Department. He then voted in 2020, twice in 2022 and again in 2024, the department said.
Prosecutors also accuse him of lying under oath on his application to become a citizen by stating that he had never claimed citizenship. He faces felony charges that carry up to five years in federal prison, though the department noted that all defendants are presumed innocent.
Omar Muñoz is one of 28 green card holders charged in the sweep, which the department said involved all four federal prosecutors’ offices in California. Green card holders can live in the country legally, but they cannot vote in U.S. elections.
The Justice Department sued California last week to stop the state from counting mail ballots from people it calls likely noncitizens, the AP reported. The lawsuit followed state officials missing a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 names.
“Each of the 28 defendants charged today appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said in the department’s announcement. “California refused to look at that list.”
In the same announcement, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, “Today’s arrests prove what we have been saying. California is mailing ballots to noncitizens, and they are refusing to comply with federal law, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) wrote on X Monday, “WOW. First Assistant Bill just admitted in front of the press that not all of those arrested today may have voted,” according to the AP.
Prosecutors allege that 22 of the 28 defendants cast ballots in at least one election, while five registered without voting and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020, CalMatters reported.
“Twenty-eight out of 23 million registered voters in California is just … a drop in the bucket numerically,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said Monday, according to SFist.
California’s lawyers filed federal prosecutors’ announcement of the arrests in court Tuesday as part of the state’s opposition to the administration’s request for a temporary restraining order, a short-term court order, according to a court filing.
In May, Attorney General Todd Blanche, then acting attorney general and formerly Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, claimed on Fox News that there was “a ton of evidence” the 2020 election was rigged, though he said he couldn’t promise a “definitive answer” on whether it was stolen, Mediaite reported.
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