Feds Charge 5 Noncitizens in Texas With Voting in U.S. Elections

Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged five noncitizens with election-related crimes, including three people accused of casting ballots in the 2024 presidential election, according to an announcement Friday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, as reported by KPRC Click2Houston.

U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz framed the cases as a defense of the ballot box. “American elections are for Americans only, and these foreigners will be brought to justice,” Reitz said in the announcement, according to KPRC. “To that end, we are always on the hunt for bad actors meddling in our elections,” he said, according to the station.

Texas U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz says his office has charged five noncitizens with election crimes, three of them accused of voting in the 2024 presidential race, KPRC reports. Charges are allegations. "FOR AMERICANS ONLY," Reitz says, days before Tuesday's vote.

via @USAttyReitz pic.twitter.com/Y1rIPNiQV5

— Daily Beltway (@DailyBeltway) October 30, 2026

Who is charged and what they are accused of

According to KPRC, the defendants are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria and Mexico. The station reported that one defendant, a 33-year-old La Porte man, is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and the only one of the five in the country illegally, while the other four are or were lawful permanent residents, which does not give them the right to vote in U.S. elections.

Prosecutors allege that three of the defendants, from Houston, La Porte and Laredo, voted illegally in the 2024 presidential election, KPRC reported. The Houston defendant is also accused of voting in 2022, according to KPRC. A Port Isabel man is accused of voting in the 2022 special election for Texas’ 34th Congressional District, according to KPRC.

The Laredo defendant faces an additional charge of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, according to KPRC. A McAllen grand jury separately indicted a McAllen woman for allegedly lying on immigration documents after casting a ballot in a federal election, KPRC reported.

Charges are accusations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Penalties and investigators

According to KPRC, the two defendants charged with falsely claiming citizenship or lying on immigration documents each face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The illegal voting charge carries a maximum of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine, the station reported.

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation with help from the Texas Attorney General’s Office and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, KPRC reported. “Voting in U.S. elections is a right reserved for U.S. citizens,” said John A. Pasciucco, the HSI special agent in charge in San Antonio, according to the station.

Part of a national push days before the midterms

The Texas cases land days before Tuesday’s midterm elections and follow a string of similar federal cases. On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that 18 more noncitizens in North Carolina had been indicted for illegally voting in the 2024 election, bringing that state’s total to 30 indicted this year, according to a department release. On Monday, the department announced charges involving 48 noncitizens in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and Nevada tied to illegal voting, fraudulent registration and related crimes, according to another Justice Department release.

For years, voters have been told that noncitizen voting is not something to worry about. Prosecutors are now testing that claim in court, one indictment at a time.

Reitz also announced the charges in a video posted on X. “I’m charging five foreigners for illegally voting in federal elections,” he said in the post, adding that U.S. elections should be “FOR AMERICANS ONLY.”

Reporting by Daily Beltway.