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The first arrest in what a Trump administration prosecutor says will be a broader election fraud crackdown was announced Friday in Los Angeles, as the White House seized on the case to hit back at longtime critics.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced a Honduran national was charged with two felony counts and could face deportation if convicted, while criticizing California’s current voter-registration safeguards and renewing DOJ demands for a voter-roll audit.
“Today’s arrest is the first of many to come. Unfortunately, because states like California allow non-citizens to easily register to vote and receive a ballot by mail, there’s no telling how many non-citizens are currently registered to vote,” Essayli said in a statement announcing the capture of Darwin Jonathan Rivera-Flores.
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“We again renew our request that California immediately comply with our requests to audit their voter rolls so that all voters can have confidence in our elections.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom for comment.
Rivera-Flores, of the Winnetka neighborhood west of Van Nuys, was charged with fraudulent voter registration and false claim of U.S. citizenship. He did not vote in an election, according to the DOJ.
Rivera-Flores entered the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration and was a green-card holder, but not a U.S. citizen, according to the affidavit.
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He was previously charged with a misdemeanor for “disrupting immigration law enforcement operations” at a federal building in Camarillo, California, and sentenced to one year of probation.
Rivera-Flores also allegedly sent a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent a slew of taunting text messages, calling the officer “not the good guy” and saying he could not “wait until the midterms” because he believed the agent would not have qualified immunity — legal protection that can shield law enforcement officers from certain civil claims arising from their official conduct.
Text messages between Rivera-Flores and the agent reviewed by Fox News show several profane jabs directed at the officer, including, “How you f—ing treat people … that’s not f—ing protecting, you’re hurting these people,” and, “Chris, you know you’re a b—-, right.”
CLICK BELOW TO READ THE AFFIDAVIT
Rivera-Flores obtained the agent’s number after the agent unblocked it on his government-issued phone to contact him during an investigation, according to the affidavit.
The White House said Rivera-Flores’ case indicates mainstream media and political critics are off-base in their countervailing reporting and allegations about the existence of voter fraud.
“Despite the media and Democrats claiming it never happens, the evidence of non-citizens registering to vote in our elections continues to pile up,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.
“Any non-citizens found registering to vote and voting in our elections will be held accountable. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.”
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Essayli said the case bolsters DOJ’s demand that California comply with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s request for a comprehensive voter-roll audit.
Dhillon said in a statement that noncitizens who “commit fraud so they can vote in American elections” violate federal law and should expect to be prosecuted.
“Let this criminal complaint serve as a reminder that the Justice Department stands ready to enforce the laws Congress enacted to ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections.”
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Californians will decide in November whether to impose additional voter-ID and citizenship-verification requirements. Under current law, people registering to vote must state under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens and provide identifying information. The initiative is being led by state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego.
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Fox News’ Matt Finn contributed to this report.
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