Event: California

Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalise.Also Read: Obama blasts Trump’s ‘chaos and cruelty’ while campaigning for DemocratsAmandeep Kaur, who is among those charged, has lived in the country for eight years and is in the process of becoming a naturalised U.S. citizen, said her husband, Kulwinder Singh.Mr. Singh said she got her driver's license in 2024 but took the written test at the DMV in Hindi because she struggles with English. He doesn't know if she registered to vote then. He said she received and returned a ballot in 2024 but they both thought it was a registration form.Now, he said his wife is distraught with the news that she may have done something illegal.“All she does is cry. It's heartbreaking,” said Mr. Singh, who is a U.S. citizen.One of them is José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, who applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the country for 40 years and spending his entire adult life as a legal permanent resident. The federal government has alleged in charging documents that he improperly claimed to be a citizen in 2007 when registering to vote, then later lied about it on his immigration paperwork. The government hasn't accused him of casting a ballot.Bañuelos-Díaz told The Associated Press he had no idea he had registered to vote until he was arrested on Monday (October 19, 2026) outside his Los Angeles home, though he recalls getting a driver's license around 2007. In California, people are prompted to register to vote when applying for a driver's license.“I have never voted because I know…