DOJ Charges 64 Foreign Nationals with Illegal Voting in 17 States

<p>The Justice Department has charged 64 foreign nationals across 17 states with unlawful voting, fraudulent voter registration, and election-related offenses in approximately the last five weeks, according to figures provided to Fox News Digital, as federal prosecutors increase election-integrity enforcement.</p><p>Minnesota leads the nation with 11 defendants, followed by Pennsylvania with 10 and Texas with nine. Louisiana accounts for five, while New Jersey, California, and Florida each have four, according to the department's latest tally.</p><p>The nationwide crackdown coincides with federal officials intensifying scrutiny of voter-registration safeguards ahead of the November midterms, with recent elections highlighting how even a few illegal ballots can exceed the margin separating candidates. Fox News Digital reported that the DOJ has charged 104 people with voting fraud-related offenses since President Trump returned to office in 2025.</p><p>"Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen. In 2020, Iowa's 2nd Congressional District race was decided by six votes," a DOJ spokesperson stated, referring to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' narrow victory over Democrat Rita Hart.</p><p>The DOJ indicated that federal prosecutors are bringing more than twice as many election-fraud cases each week as the six-vote margin in the Iowa race.</p><p>The spokesperson added: "Voting by noncitizens and other ineligible voters is a federal crime, and the department will enforce the law whether a case involves one illegal ballot or hundreds."</p><p>The cases involve allegations ranging from fraudulent registration applications to ballots cast in multiple elections.</p><p>The department is also securing guilty pleas in some cases, including against Filipino national Evelyn Miller of Emmaus, Pennsylvania. Miller pleaded guilty to illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election and faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.</p><p>U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf stated, "We intend to prosecute anyone who corrupts our democracy by illegally voting in its elections."</p><p>In Pennsylvania, federal prosecutors charged Haitian national Cliff Sanon with submitting a fraudulent voter registration application in Philadelphia County, alleging he submitted eight registration applications and voted in the November 2022 election.</p><p>In Minnesota, Ghanaian green card holder Joshua Kofi Edzie was charged with illegally voting in the state's August 2026 primary and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in connection with voter registration.</p><p>The prosecutions have also reached Republican-led states, including Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, which account for 18 defendants combined in the DOJ figures provided to Fox News Digital.</p><p>In Louisiana, federal authorities indicted an ex-mayoral candidate on a charge of voting by an alien. Bridget Johnson, who ran in 2024 to lead Cotton Valley, Louisiana, allegedly submitted a registration in the name of Jamaican national Michael Wedderburn and falsely swore he was a citizen. Wedderburn then allegedly voted illegally in 2024 for president and mayor and was also recently indicted.</p><p>In New Jersey, Republicans have pointed to several close elections amid a separate controversy involving approximately 6,600 people who indicated they were not citizens but were erroneously registered through the state's Motor Vehicle Commission. Fewer than 400 subsequently voted, according to Gov. Mikie Sherrill's administration.</p><p>Former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac recently highlighted municipal elections in Caldwell, Atlantic Highlands, and Bogota decided by margins of four to six votes in 2023.</p><p>The state has not established that any of the affected voters changed an election outcome. Sherrill spokesman Sean Higgins previously stated that the governor "moved with transparency and accountability to remediate this error from 2023."</p><p>The prosecutions come as federal officials continue scrutinizing voter-registration safeguards ahead of the November midterm elections. Authorities have not established that any of the cases identified in the DOJ's nationwide tally changed the outcome of an election.</p>