Federal authorities in Southern California have made their first arrest in what they describe as an ongoing crackdown on election fraud, according to a report from PJ Media.
Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, of Winnetka, was arrested this morning by Homeland Security agents and charged with two felonies for unlawfully registering to vote in California and falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, authorities said. The arrest came outside a health care center in Ventura.
First of many arrests
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, emphasized that the arrest is just the beginning of a broader effort to target election fraud in the state. “More arrests to come,” Essayli said, thanking Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles for its work on the case.
Essayli highlighted how easy it is for noncitizens in California to register to vote and request a mail-in ballot. The state accepts a wide range of identification for voter registration, including a passport, military ID, driver’s license, health club card, student ID, bank statement, government check, public housing card, discount card, or a drug prescription — many of which are accessible to undocumented immigrants, he noted.
“States like California do not screen voter registration applications for citizenship,” Essayli said. “Every non-citizen registered to vote dilutes a lawful citizen’s vote. We need to audit California’s dirty voter rolls.”
State officials under fire
Essayli criticized California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, for what he called “working overtime to keep non-citizens on the voter rolls and prevent a federal audit.” He said California Democrats have been resisting federal efforts to conduct a thorough review of registered voter data.
Essayli has previously found ways to work around sanctuary policies that ignore ICE detainer requests by issuing federal arrest warrants against undocumented immigrants, which requires local authorities to hand them over. He has also prosecuted individuals accused of stealing large amounts of taxpayer money.
Broader fraud concerns
The report also points to ongoing concerns about ballot harvesting in California, including an alleged network in Los Angeles that has been used to bribe homeless people to vote Democrat, sometimes under false names. Authorities suggest there may be further arrests tied to those operations.
The arrest of Rivera Flores is described by Essayli as not an anomaly or a one-off incident, signaling that federal investigators intend to pursue more cases against noncitizens registered to vote in California.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/08/28/federal-arrests-begin-for-california-election-fraud-n4956661
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