The Department of Justice sued California election officials on Thursday, seeking a federal court order to prevent the tabulation of vote-by-mail ballots from more than 20,000 individuals the Trump administration has identified as likely noncitizens.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, targets California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. It follows a 48-hour deadline issued earlier in the week after federal officials provided a list of suspected noncitizens via a password-protected thumb drive.

Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that state-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable. The complaint alleges that Homeland Security Investigations determined with high confidence that around 20,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California and received or will receive mail ballots for the November 3 midterms.

Federal officials had demanded that the state and county segregate any returned ballots from the listed individuals until citizenship could be verified. California officials declined to act on the list, citing data privacy protocols and concerns over the unverified information.

The suit argues that only American citizens may vote in federal elections and seeks an injunction barring the tabulation of those ballots until verification occurs. It does not request removal from voter rolls but focuses on preventing the counting of questioned ballots in federal contests.

California Governor Gavin Newsom described the action as a desperate attempt to suppress voters, while state officials maintained they cannot act without proper verification of noncitizen status. Legal experts have noted potential hurdles under the National Voter Registration Act's restrictions on systematic purges close to elections.

The filing marks an escalation in federal efforts to address concerns over noncitizen participation in elections. The midterms are three weeks away, and California mails ballots to all registered voters.