Justice Department Charges 63 in Election Fraud Cases as Trump Administration Expands Nationwide Enf

Federal prosecutors announced new charges involving illegal voting and fraudulent voter registration across 15 states ahead of the midterm elections, while Homeland Security officials warned noncitizens against voting and the Supreme Court rejected an emergency effort to separate thousands of California ballots.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced charges against 63 individuals accused of election-related offenses Monday, Nov. 2, as the Trump administration expanded its efforts to identify and prosecute noncitizens suspected of voting illegally in previous elections. The announcement came one day before the midterm elections, when federal authorities also planned an extensive nationwide monitoring operation intended to deter election violations.

The cases involve allegations of unlawful voting, fraudulent voter registration, false claims of U.S. citizenship and misrepresentations on immigration documents. According to the Justice Department’s official announcement, federal prosecutors have charged 195 foreign nationals across 25 states with illegal voting and registration offenses during the past nine weeks, bringing the administration’s reported total of voting fraud-related charges to 239 since President Donald Trump returned to office.

“Today’s announcement marks the largest surge of voter-fraud arrests since President Trump returned to office,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “These foreign nationals allegedly took advantage of the trust of the American people and flouted the laws that govern our nation’s elections. This Department of Justice will continue investigating and prosecuting voter fraud to restore confidence in our electoral system.”

The 63 defendants were charged in federal judicial districts covering Georgia, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, Wisconsin, New York, Utah, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, California, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. Four were identified by prosecutors as individuals living in the country unlawfully, while many others were lawful permanent residents who were not eligible to participate in federal elections.

Among those charged was Ali Khan, 33, a Trinidad and Tobago national accused of voting in Texas during the 2024 election. Prosecutors also identified Mohammad Hachibur Rahman, 33, a Bangladeshi national accused of voting unlawfully in Maryland, and Benito Covarrubias Iniguez, 64, a Mexican national accused of falsely claiming American citizenship to vote in Georgia.

Several North Carolina cases involve allegations spanning multiple election cycles. Prosecutors accused Kenyan national Elizabeth Margaret Crudup, 52, of participating in nine general elections between 2008 and 2024 and nine primary elections. Bermudan national Gregory Eugene Wade, 64, allegedly voted in 12 general elections dating to 2000, along with two primaries. Both defendants were identified as lawful permanent residents who lacked U.S. citizenship.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the federal cases also include a Samoan national accused of voting in Utah’s 2024 presidential election while holding lawful permanent resident status. Federal law prohibits noncitizens, including green card holders, from voting in elections for president and Congress.

Additional prosecutions were announced in California, where federal authorities charged six Los Angeles County residents with making false statements during naturalization proceedings after allegedly registering to vote and participating in American elections. The defendants included foreign nationals from the Philippines, Mexico, Israel, Canada and Iran.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, prosecutors allege that the individuals falsely denied having registered or voted when completing immigration documents. The charges followed earlier investigations involving voter registration records, citizenship information and election participation histories.

The administration’s enforcement campaign intensified Tuesday when Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that federal authorities would pursue individuals who participate in elections without being legally eligible.

“If you vote illegally in this country, and you are NOT eligible to vote, @DHSgov will find you, hunt you down, and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Mullin wrote in an Election Day message, according to Democracy Docket’s report on the warning. “Only American citizens should be deciding American elections.”

Mullin’s statement was accompanied by additional warnings from federal immigration authorities, emphasizing that noncitizens who vote illegally may face criminal penalties and potential immigration consequences. The enforcement announcements focused primarily on allegations involving previous elections rather than newly established violations during Tuesday’s voting.

Immigration enforcement advocates welcomed the prosecutions, arguing that increased investigations could discourage individuals from attempting to vote unlawfully. William Gheen, founder of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, described the federal actions as an effort to deter noncitizen voting.

“The feds are sending a message,” Gheen said. “They are going after this [illegal voting], and their Operation Ballot Shield will help deter many illegal noncitizen voters.”

Gheen has long argued that unlawful voting by noncitizens extends beyond the cases identified by federal investigators. His organization maintains an online collection of reports involving alleged foreign voters, which it cites in support of stronger citizenship verification requirements and criminal enforcement.

“The Democrats have been doing this for at least 20 years in different places in the country. They’re just rolling it out into more places. They’ve been incrementally expanding it,” Gheen said, alleging that Democratic political organizations benefit from unlawful voting in major metropolitan areas.

“They like to work in the major urban areas where they can exert influence outward on the rest of the state, just like Chicago, just like Minneapolis, just like Charlotte, North Carolina. They’re using it to magnify their urban population city Democrat machine vote, and to give them the extra census and redistricting weight, as well as raw votes. What people are seeing in these initial [arrest] numbers coming in right now are the tip of the iceberg.”

“There are more than enough illegal noncitizen voters to give the Democrats a great deal of edge,” he added. “One illegal noncitizen voter is too much, and we clearly have large numbers, and each illegal noncitizen voter who casts a ballot is stealing the vote and voice of an American.”

Those allegations have not been established by the prosecutions announced Monday. Federal authorities have documented individual cases involving noncitizen voting, but the charges do not demonstrate a coordinated effort by either political party to organize unlawful voting or establish that such activity has altered election outcomes.

The administration’s enforcement efforts have also generated litigation over the accuracy of federal voter identification data. In California, Justice Department officials sought an emergency court order requiring election administrators to separate mail ballots associated with approximately 20,000 people whom federal authorities identified as potentially ineligible because of their citizenship status.

California officials challenged the reliability of the list, maintaining that it included eligible American citizens and individuals who were not active registered voters. The dispute reached the Supreme Court after a federal district judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the administration’s request to segregate the ballots while eligibility checks continued.

The Supreme Court denied the emergency application Monday, issuing a brief order without explanation or noted dissent. The decision left California’s existing ballot-processing procedures in place but did not determine the citizenship status of everyone identified in the federal government’s records.

The Justice Department maintained that temporarily separating the disputed ballots would preserve the ability to investigate possible unlawful votes without permanently rejecting any legitimate ballots. California officials countered that the government’s identification process contained significant errors and that implementing new procedures immediately before Election Day could improperly prevent eligible citizens from having their votes counted.

According to the Los Angeles Times’ examination of the ruling, the justices declined to intervene after lower courts warned that the proposed restrictions could disrupt an election already underway. More than 6 million California voters had returned ballots before the dispute reached the Supreme Court.

The administration has pursued similar voter eligibility reviews elsewhere. Federal officials asked Washington state election authorities to examine ballots associated with more than 400 people identified as possible noncitizens, but state officials disputed the accuracy of the information and said some people on the list were American citizens.

The disagreement highlights a central issue in the enforcement campaign: Federal authorities have identified individuals accused of unlawful voting, but broader database comparisons can also flag eligible voters because of outdated records, incomplete citizenship information or mistaken identity.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced plans to deploy approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states, expanding federal oversight during the midterm elections. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon promoted the initiative in an Election Day statement on X, emphasizing the department’s commitment to protecting lawful votes.

The initiative includes personnel from the department’s Civil Rights Division, federal prosecutors’ offices and other agencies tasked with examining compliance with federal election laws. Voting rights organizations have expressed concerns that aggressive federal intervention could discourage participation by eligible voters, particularly naturalized citizens, while administration officials maintain that the monitoring is necessary to prevent unlawful voting and enforce election protections.

The enforcement actions also illustrate the distinction between criminal charges and convictions. The Justice Department’s reported totals include defendants accused of offenses occurring over multiple election cycles, and many cases remain unresolved. Prosecutors must prove the allegations in court, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted.

With voters casting ballots nationwide Tuesday, federal authorities say investigations into unlawful registration and voting will continue beyond Election Day. The newly announced cases demonstrate the administration’s increased prosecution efforts, while disputes over voter citizenship records and election oversight remain active in federal courts.