Venezuelan DACA recipient among 16 arrested in illegal voting crackdown
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 16 individuals as part of a broader federal crackdown on election integrity ahead of the November midterms
The charges announced Sept. 18 include unlawful voting by noncitizens in federal elections, false claims of citizenship to register or vote, and related offenses including wire fraud, naturalization fraud, passport fraud and unlawful firearm purchases, according to the DOJ.
In Texas, eight people face charges for alleged unlawful voting, including:
Moises Anwar Arellano-Alba, 36, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was charged with voting in a federal election and giving a false statement of citizenship in order to register to vote;
Helen Sayen Adams, 67, a Nigerian national and lawful permanent resident since May 2024, who was charged with voting in a federal election and giving a false statement of citizenship to register to vote;
Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom, 27, a Nigerian national and lawful permanent resident since 2016, was charged with false statements in relation to naturalization;
Carlos Salas Barrios, 41, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident since 2018, was charged with allegedly voting in a federal election;
Khalwinder Singh Bhengura, 69, an Indian national and lawful permanent resident since 2022, was charged with voting in a federal election and false statement of citizenship to register to vote;
Celestin Katubadi, 20, a Democratic Republic of Congo national and lawful permanent resident, who was charged with voting in a federal election and giving a false statement of citizenship to vote;
Rocio Thrasher, 38, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident since 2017, who was charged with voting in a federal election and giving a false statement of citizenship to register to vote.
Residents from several other states, including Idaho, Georgia, and Massachusetts, were also arrested as part of the enforcement action, authorities said, including Analiea Milliscent Eccles, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela and DACA recipient who allegedly voted nine times between 2008 and 2024.
Authorities say Eccles appeared in federal court following her arrest on a criminal complaint charging her with voting as a non-citizen in a federal election and making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to vote in an election.
In Michigan, Victoria Viktorivna Aquilina, 43, a Russian national, allegedly registered to vote in 2023 and cast a vote in a U.S. election. She was later charged with illegally voting in the 2024 general election, according to prosecutors.
The charges marked an uptick in immigration enforcement actions under President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche in recent months.
On Monday, DOJ officials, including Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, held a press conference announcing enforcement actions related to election integrity. McCotter announced that over the last month, the DOJ has charged 32 people in the U.S. illegally with unlawful voting and registration offenses.
“Since the beginning of this administration, the department has charged 70 such people with such offenses, and we intend to bring many more,” McCotter said. “By comparison, in the prior administration, they brought only 13. That’s not 13 per year. It’s 13 in four years total."
Overall, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has generated more than 1,600 voter fraud cases leading to more than 160 recent arrests, authorities said. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, meanwhile, reported over 100 allegations of mail dumping this year involving election mail and has investigated over 35 cases.
In August, President Donald Trump declined to rule out declaring a national security emergency as a means to assert more control over the 2026 midterm elections.
In an Aug. 10 interview with Wayne Allyn Root of Real America’s Voice, Trump appeared to be open to a scenario in which he could intervene in the midterm elections in November following the Senate’s failure to pass his “SAVE America Act.”
“If they never get the SAVE America Act done, you have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections,” Root said. He added that “if you declare a national security emergency as the president of the United States, they can’t challenge it. It can only be overturned by a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress. So if you do this in the next month, we will get photo ID, proof of citizenship (for voter registration) and a limit to mail-in ballots.”
Trump’s response? “Let me just say that stranger things have happened, OK? I’ll leave it at that.”
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
