California man swept up in federal voting probe to appear in court

Sharon Bernstein, The Sacramento Bee on Nov 6, 2026

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento man who is a green card holder but not a U.S. citizen will appear in federal court Friday to face a misdemeanor charge of voting illegally in the 2024 presidential election.

Kamlesh Shah is one of more than three dozen lawful permanent residents in California swept up in the Trump administration’s campaign to identify people it says are noncitizens registered to vote.

The charges and arrests were made in the days leading up to Tuesday’s hard-fought congressional elections, as the Republican administration of President Donald Trump sought to prove its long-held contention that immigrants were voting illegally, potentially swaying elections to Democrat opponents.

Shah was identified by the investigations division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, using a disputed list developed by the Department of Homeland Security that is the subject of numerous fast-moving lawsuits and court orders. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the administration’s request for an order forcing California to set aside the ballots of some 20,000 individuals on its list.

The list’s accuracy has been questioned by two federal judges and two panels of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but in recent weeks, Justice Department prosecutors have used it to identify and charge 40 people in California they say are noncitizens who registered or voted illegally in prior elections.

Federal prosecutors have said in court and in public that the list and accompanying investigations are necessary to root out fraud and prevent ballots cast by U.S. citizens from being ‘diluted’ by illegal votes. But California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said such cases are extremely rare, pointing out that the number of people charged pales in comparison with the 23 million registered voters in the state.

Shah, 68, said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee that he had lived in the U.S. for 30 years and was in the midst of becoming a citizen when he became inspired by the 2024 presidential campaign of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

He decided to see if his new driver’s license and ongoing citizenship application would allow him to vote, and when workers at a polling place handed him a ballot, he filled it out, Shah said in the interview.

He hasn’t voted since. But now, with a heart condition that makes it hard to get around, he faces a federal charge of voting illegally.

Two other Sacramento residents, Juan Antonio Rivas Garcia and Meryll Quirong Costi, face similar charges. Both were taken into custody but released pending trial. After Costi’s first appearance in court on Monday, her attorney said the experience was mortifying.

Charges such as those against Shah and the other immigrants are brought from time to time, experts say, but rarely with the level of attention and publicity that accompanied these cases. Federal prosecutors from across California wore suits for a livestreamed news conference Oct. 19 as press releases went out across the state.

Additional news conferences were held and more press releases sent as another dozen people were charged about two weeks later.

In the sprawling federal district that includes Fresno and Sacramento, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant has accused a dozen noncitizens with voting illegally. All of the cases filed in the region, known as the Eastern District of California, were charged as misdemeanors, carrying a maximum potential sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

But in Southern California, First Assistant United States Attorney Bilal Essayli has included a charge of lying to immigration officers along with accusations of voting illegally, which means that most of the 19 people charged there are facing felonies. These carry penalties of up to five years in prison for each charge and could impact their citizenship applications and immigration status. Essayli has also persuaded a criminal grand jury to formally indict 10 of the individuals.

Essayli indicated this week that he would continue to investigate and file such cases, even though Election Day has passed.

The indictments “are a part of ‘Operation Protect the Vote’ — an ongoing, coordinated federal effort in California to root out fraud in U.S. elections and protect electoral integrity,” he said in a news release on Wednesday.

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