Cases filed against 16 foreign nationals for illegal voting in US election
LOS ANGELES:-The U.S. Department of Justice has filed charges against 16 individuals for their alleged involvement in schemes involving illegal voting by non-citizens, unlawful voter registration, and election-related fraud.
Investigations have uncovered offenses including voting by non-citizens in federal elections, false claims of citizenship, wire fraud, naturalization fraud, passport fraud, and the illegal purchase of firearms.
Legal action has been initiated against eight foreign nationals in the Northern District of Texas for alleged illegal voting. Among them is Moises Anwar Arellano-Alba, a 36-year-old undocumented Mexican national who had already received a final deportation order; he is accused of voting in a federal election and providing false information for voter registration.
Similarly, Nigerian nationals Helen Sayen Adams (67) and Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom (27) face charges of voting as non-citizens and submitting false information during the naturalized citizenship process, respectively.
Charges have also been filed against 41-year-old Mexican national Carlos Salas Barrios (a permanent resident since 2018), 69-year-old Indian national Khalvinder Singh Bhengura (a permanent resident since 2022), 20-year-old Democratic Republic of the Congo national Celestin Katubadi (a permanent resident), and 38-year-old Mexican national Rocio Thresser (a permanent resident since 2017) for voting as non-citizens, providing false information for voter registration, and making false claims regarding citizenship.
Monica Carjoli, a 46-year-old Mexican national and lawful permanent resident arrested in Del Rio, in the Western District of Texas, has admitted to registering to vote and casting a ballot in the November 2024 election.
Avila Gomez, an undocumented Mexican national, voted in the May 2022 and November 2024 elections in Idaho County after falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen. A federal grand jury indictment charges him with fraudulently obtaining identification documents and a passport, as well as illegally purchasing and possessing a firearm.
Three foreign nationals have been arrested in a northern Georgia county on charges of illegal voting. They include Pauline Lewis, a 65-year-old woman from Antigua and Barbuda who was allegedly in the country illegally; Gabriel Covarrubias, a 44-year-old Mexican national accused of voting under a false name in the November 2024 election and providing false information on a U.S. passport application; and Analia Millicent Eccles, a 44-year-old Venezuelan national and DACA recipient who allegedly voted nine times between 2008 and 2024.
Gladys Adaeze Okafor, a 56-year-old Nigerian national and lawful permanent resident, has been arrested in the District of Massachusetts on charges of illegally voting in the 2022 and 2024 general elections.
Julieta Engelstad, a 53-year-old Colombian national and lawful permanent resident, has been charged in the Western District of Wisconsin with registering to vote in the November 2022 federal election by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen; if convicted, she could face a maximum prison sentence of five years for voter registration and one year for illegal voting.
Santana Koulibaly, a lawful permanent resident, has been arrested in New Jersey. She registered to vote in October 2016, voted in the 2018 and 2020 elections, cast a provisional ballot in the 2024 presidential election, and was found to have provided false information on her application for naturalized citizenship.
