Federal prosecutors and Homeland Security Investigations have charged 16 people with illegal voting, illegal voter registration, and related offenses, the Justice Department announced in September, with arrests spanning Texas, Georgia, Michigan, and four other states.
The cases involve individuals accused of registering or voting in federal elections while not U.S. citizens, or of making false citizenship claims on voter, naturalization, or identification forms. Some defendants also face additional counts including naturalization fraud, passport fraud, wire fraud, and firearm offenses uncovered during the investigations.
Seven Arrested in Texas as Cases Spread Across the Country
The largest cluster of arrests came in the Northern District of Texas, where U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould announced seven noncitizen cases on September 15. Six of those defendants were indicted on September 10 and a seventh was charged by complaint a day later. Six of the seven are lawful permanent residents. The seventh, Moises Anwar Arellano-Alba, 36, a Mexican national previously ordered removed from the United States, surrendered on September 15.
Named Texas defendants include Helen Sayen Adams, 67, of Nigeria; Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom, 27, of Nigeria; Carlos Salas Barrios, 41, of Mexico; Khalwinder Singh Bhengura, 69, of India; Celestin Katubadi, 20, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Rocio Thrasher, 38, of Mexico. Alleged conduct includes voting in 2018 or 2024, casting provisional ballots that were later rejected, and making false statements on registration or naturalization papers.
Defendants announced on September 18 include Avila Gomez, a Mexican national charged in Idaho with voting in 2022 and 2024 and additional document and firearm counts; Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 44, a Venezuelan DACA recipient in Georgia alleged to have voted multiple times from 2008 to 2024; Gladys Adaeze Okafor, 56, a Nigerian lawful permanent resident charged in Massachusetts; Julieta Englestad, 53, a Colombian lawful permanent resident charged in Wisconsin; Santana Coulibaly, a lawful permanent resident arrested in New Jersey; and Victoria Viktorivna Aquilina, 43, a Russian national charged in Michigan. You can follow noncitizen voting arrests as more details emerge from federal court filings.
DHS Reports More Than 1,600 Open Cases Nationwide
Two earlier September arrests were also publicized by the Department of Homeland Security. On September 3, HSI El Paso arrested Ludwig Uriel Espejo-Carrillo, a Mexican lawful permanent resident since 2013, on charges of unlawful voting and a false citizenship claim tied to the 2015 elections. The same day, ICE arrested Helda Araceli Mendez-Merida, a Guatemalan national with a 2019 removal order, in Indianapolis, with DHS stating she had voted in a prior national election.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that the department had 1,620 open cases involving alleged noncitizen voting and had made 151 arrests. Mullin added that investigators were reviewing approximately 300,000 additional possible matches generated by comparing state voter rolls against federal immigration records. The scope of that review signals that federal authorities view the current wave of charges as an early stage of a much broader enforcement effort.
