DOJ Charges 48 Noncitizens With Illegal Voting in Five States

The Justice Department announced Monday that it has charged 48 noncitizens in five states with illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration and related election crimes, according to a department press release. The cases span Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and Nevada.

The department said the cases include voting by aliens in federal elections and false claims of U.S. citizenship made to register or to vote. According to the release, all but one of the defendants are lawful permanent residents, meaning green card holders who are barred from voting in federal elections. The one exception, according to the Justice Department, is a 73-year-old illegal alien from Cuba charged in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with voting in the 2024 general election.

🗳️🚨 Today, the Justice Department announced charges involving 48 ALIENS in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York, and Nevada in connection with illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration, and related election crimes.

The cases include voting by aliens in federal… pic.twitter.com/LERBDuHeHr

— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) October 26, 2026

The Daily Wire was first to report the charges, citing a list provided by the Justice Department. The department also announced the cases in a post on X on Monday morning.

California accounts for the largest share of the cases. According to the release, 13 defendants in the Central District of California face felony charges that include false statements on naturalization applications. One of them, a 72-year-old lawful permanent resident from Belize, allegedly registered to vote in September 2019 while claiming to be a U.S. citizen, then voted in 2020, twice in 2022 and again in 2024, the department said. Prosecutors allege he later lied under oath on his citizenship application by stating he had never claimed to be a citizen.

Six more defendants in the Eastern District of California are charged with voting by an alien in a federal election, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison, according to the release. The department said one of them, a Mexican national, allegedly voted in three U.S. elections, most recently the June 2026 primary. Another two defendants allegedly registered on the day of the November 2024 general election and voted that same day, the department said.

A recurring pattern runs through the California and Florida cases, according to the release: defendants allegedly registered by claiming citizenship, voted, and then denied ever doing so when they later applied to become naturalized citizens. In the Northern and Southern Districts of California, nine defendants face charges that include attempted procurement of naturalization contrary to law and false statements under oath, the department said.

In Florida, six lawful permanent residents in the Middle District were charged, several of them by indictment, for allegedly voting in the 2022 or 2024 federal general elections, or both, according to the release. In the Eastern District of New York, the department said, three defendants admitted to federal agents in voluntary interviews, “in substance and in part,” that they were not citizens and had voted in the 2024 general election anyway. Nine defendants were charged in Pennsylvania’s Eastern and Middle Districts, and one each in the Northern District of New York and the District of Nevada, according to the department.

The announcement comes one week after the Justice Department said it had charged 28 foreign nationals in California with election crimes, according to an October 19 department release. Monday’s cases land eight days before the November 3 midterm elections.

The charges cut against a familiar talking point from critics of voter ID and citizenship verification laws, who have long argued that noncitizen voting is vanishingly rare. Each ballot cast by someone not eligible to vote cancels out the vote of a lawful citizen.

The Justice Department noted that a complaint, indictment or information is only an accusation, and that every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice: Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 48 Aliens for Election-Related Crimes
• The Daily Wire: 48 Foreign Nationals Accused Of Playing American Voter
• U.S. Department of Justice: Justice Department Charges 28 Foreign Nationals in California for Election Crimes
• U.S. Department of Justice on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.