Feds Accuse 59 Noncitizens of Illegal Voting in Three Days. Three Already Cast Ballots in 2026

Five days before the midterm, the federal government has put 59 names on the table. Each one belongs to a noncitizen accused of voting in American elections, or of lying about citizenship to get on the rolls.

The Justice Department announced charges against 48 of them on Monday in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and Nevada. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security released 13 more, all arrested by ICE's investigators at Homeland Security Investigations. Two people, Cuban national Jaimie Sosa-Sardina and German national Marva Cook, show up on both lists. That leaves 59 different people.

"The patriots of ICE have arrested dozens of non-citizens who illegally voted in American elections," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "The Trump Administration will not allow illegal aliens to steal the votes of hardworking American citizens. American elections are for Americans only."

This year's ballots, too

This isn't only about old elections. DHS says two of its 13, Juan Carlos Matute-Hernandez of Honduras and Darwin Yoel Zelaya-Orellana of Honduras, illegally voted in the 2026 election. Zelaya-Orellana has a conviction for a third-degree sex offense, the department says. In DOJ's California cases, Mexican national Camino Giles Jiménez, a green card holder, is accused of voting in three U.S. elections, "the most recent election being the June 2026 primary."

Then there's the long tail. DHS says Phath Vorn, a Cambodian national with convictions for assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, illegally voted back in 1992. DOJ says Salvadoran national Ana Domínguez registered in 2006 and Guatemalan national Axel Giovani Prera García registered in 2002. Those cases sat for decades before anyone brought charges.

How they got caught

Here's the part most coverage skips. Read DOJ's case list line by line and a pattern jumps out. Many of these cases run through citizenship applications, where the person allegedly lied a second time. None of DOJ's case descriptions credit a state election office with flagging anyone.

The citizenship application asks, under oath, whether you've ever claimed to be a U.S. citizen, registered to vote or voted. In California alone, DOJ describes 20 defendants who allegedly lied on that paperwork. Belizean national Omar Alexander Muñoz, 72, allegedly registered in 2019 claiming he was a citizen, voted in 2020, twice in 2022 and in 2024, then swore on his naturalization application that he had never claimed to be one.

Think of a store that never checks receipts at the door and only finds out about shoplifting when the thief comes back to apply for a job. The system mostly runs on the honor of the person checking the box.

Same-day registration makes it easier still. DOJ says Filipino national Giezell Viduya Adawag registered on the day of the November 2024 election, "falsely certified that she was a U.S. citizen, and voted in the election that day." Indian national Kamlesh Navnitlal Shah, 67, did the same: registered on Election Day and voted. California lets people register and vote on the same day.

Green cards and illegal aliens

The two lists catch different groups. DOJ says 47 of its 48 defendants are lawful permanent residents, green card holders who can live and work here but can't vote in federal elections. One, 73-year-old Alfredo Santiesteban of Cuba, is an illegal alien. DHS describes most of its 13 as illegal aliens, several with records the department lists as drug trafficking, domestic violence, burglary and DUI.

Either way, the law is the same. A noncitizen can't vote for president, Senate or House. Some of these cases sound like people who didn't understand the rules. Others, like registering by swearing you're a citizen and then lying about it on a citizenship application, are a lot harder to explain away. DOJ notes that all of the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

What they face

Voting by an alien in a federal election under 18 U.S.C. 611 is a misdemeanor with up to a year in federal prison, as DOJ notes for its Eastern California cases. Falsely claiming citizenship to register or vote is a felony under 18 U.S.C. 1015(f), with up to five years. Lying to get naturalized is another felony, under 18 U.S.C. 1425.

The immigration hit can be bigger than the prison time. Federal immigration law makes a noncitizen who votes illegally deportable, and a false claim of citizenship can bar someone from ever getting a green card or citizenship. DHS says that in June it directed ICE to enforce stricter penalties for noncitizens who vote illegally, "including deportation."

Why it matters now

Officials like Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs say noncitizen voting is vanishingly rare; his state has counted only 15 cases since 1982. These 59 cases came out in three days, and many surfaced only because the person later walked into an immigration office and lied again. That's not proof of a small problem. It's proof of a system that barely looks.

DHS says this is part of a wider push. In July, Mullin warned secretaries of state that tens of thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote. Over the last week, federal prosecutors also asked Washington and California to hold ballots from suspected noncitizens. Washington refused, and a federal court let California count its 20,000 flagged ballots.

Election Day is Tuesday. The question for every state is simple: how many more names like these are sitting on the rolls right now, and who is checking before the ballots are counted?