Several Were Illegal Aliens: DOJ Announces 16 Culprits Caught Illegally Voting in Federal Elections
The Department of Justice unveiled a number of new charges Friday against 16 individuals, including several illegal aliens, who allegedly cast ballots in federal elections.
The enforcement effort comes as the Trump administration seeks to deter illegal voting activity in the 2026 midterm elections, especially from illegal aliens.
Roughly half of the foreigners were residing in Texas and were charged for crimes such as “false statement of citizenship in order to register to vote” and “voting by an alien in a federal election,” per a Department of Justice news release.
They included Moises Anwar Arellano‑Alba, an illegal alien from Mexico, as well as lawful permanent residents Helen Sayen Adams and Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom of Nigeria, and Rocio Thrasher, Monica Carzoli, and Carlos Salas Barrios of Mexico.
Khalwinder Singh Bhengura of India and Celestin Katubadi of the Democratic Republic of Congo are also facing charges.
DOJ announced charges for 16 individuals for ILLEGAL VOTING, illegal voter registration, and related election-fraud schemes across the country.
If you are not allowed to vote in our elections, you shouldn’t. And if you do, that’s a CRIME. This isn’t a partisan issue!
Read… pic.twitter.com/klmlulomps
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) September 19, 2026
In Idaho, Mexican illegal alien Avila Gomez allegedly cast ballots in both the May 2022 and November 2024 elections.
Gomez also allegedly “fraudulently obtained Idaho identification cards while devising a scheme to defraud U.S. departments and agencies.”
Three individuals in Georgia — suspected illegal aliens Gabriel Covarrubias of Mexico and Pauline Lewis of Antigua and Barbuda, as well as illegal alien Analiea Milliscent Eccles of Venezuela — also face numerous charges.
They include “voting as a non-citizen in a federal election” and “making a false statement in a U.S. passport application.”
The news release noted that Eccles was a recipient of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protects illegal aliens who arrived in the country as children from deportation.
Gladys Adaeze Okafor, a lawful permanent resident from Nigeria, meanwhile faces charges in Massachusetts for “illegally voting in the 2022 elections and allegedly voting in the 2024 general election.”
Julieta Englestad, a lawful permanent resident from Colombia, allegedly voted in the November 2022 federal election in Wisconsin.
Santana Coulibaly, an alien with lawful permanent residence, registered to vote in 2016, then allegedly cast ballots in 2018 and 2020, before submitting a provisional ballot in 2024.
She was arrested in New Jersey.
Victoria Viktorivna Aquilina, a Russian national, was meanwhile charged in Michigan with “illegally voting in the 2024 general election.”
The Department of Justice stressed that “all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
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