Federal prosecutors have indicted seven non-citizens on criminal charges related to illegally voting in federal elections or falsely claiming United States citizenship, as the Texas Secretary of State just announced his office has referred 117 cases of possible non-citizen voting to the Texas Attorney General’s office for investigation.
The seven criminal defendants were charged last week and subsequently arrested by federal authorities. The charges were brought by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas.
“Federal elections belong to American citizens—period,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould.
“When individuals who are not citizens cast ballots or falsely claim citizenship, they violate federal law, undermine the integrity of our electoral process and erode the public’s confidence in the fairness of our elections. These charges send a clear message: We will enforce the law. We will hold offenders accountable. And we will safeguard the voting process for the citizens it is meant to serve.”
Those charged include two Nigerian citizens, three Mexican citizens, an Indian citizen, and a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Four of the defendants successfully voted in the 2024 general election, while two of the defendants cast provisional ballots that were not counted. The seventh defendant voted in the 2018 general election and was charged with a naturalization offense since the statute of limitations on the voting offense had expired.
Six of the defendants are lawful permanent residents, while one is an illegal alien who was ordered to be deported in July. That defendant surrendered to federal agents on Tuesday.
The prosecutions are the result of collaborative efforts between the United States Attorney’s Office, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded the arrests.
“Foreign influence has no place in American elections. Today, my office is announcing our efforts to arrest foreigners who attempted to cheat the system and violate our laws that uphold election integrity,” said Paxton. “I will not tolerate attempts to rig elections and silence the will of American citizens and voters. I will continue to fight to ensure that Texas has free and fair elections.”
Meanwhile, Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden has announced that his office has referred 117 cases of potential non-citizen voting to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for investigation. The referrals result from a review of the State’s voter rolls as part of a pilot program with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
“By law and according to our Constitution, citizenship is a requirement to vote in Texas, and we have a duty to ensure that only eligible voters participate in our elections,” said Howden. “We also have a responsibility to make sure eligible citizens can exercise their right to vote, which is why we are taking great care with this data and conducting additional layers of due diligence.”
