Federal immigration agents arrested a Mexican noncitizen charged with voting in multiple American elections as the Trump administration cracks down on the issue.
Homeland Security Investigations agents in El Paso, Texas, took Ludwig Uriel Espejo-Carrillo, a green card holder, into custody on Sept. 3, hitting him with administrative charges for unlawful voting and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship after voting in American elections in 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Espejo-Carillo’s alleged actions are “what a threat to our republic looks like.”
“We cannot and will not allow the votes of American citizens to be cancelled out by non-citizens illegally voting in our elections,” Mullin said.
“Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be deported from the United States,” he added.
The Mexican national became a lawful permanent resident under the Obama administration in July 2013, DHS said. He will stay in ICE detention pending his deportation from the United States.
The announcement of Espejo-Carillo’s arrest comes after the Justice Department charged seven noncitizens for allegedly voting in American elections or falsely claiming United States citizenship to register to vote, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
One of the accused, Moises Anwar Arellano‑Alba, a 36-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant, was ordered deported in July.
Federal prosecutors charged Arellano‑Alba after he allegedly claimed to be an American citizen when he applied for a Texas driver’s license in 2023 and voted early in the 2024 general election in Dallas County despite being a noncitizen and convicted felon.
During his immigration proceedings, Arellano-Alba admitted to voting. The Mexican fugitive surrendered himself to federal agents on Tuesday morning.
“Federal elections belong to American citizens — period,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said. “When individuals who are not citizens cast ballots or falsely claim citizenship, they violate federal law, undermine the integrity of our electoral process and erode the public’s confidence in the fairness of our elections.”
“These charges send a clear message: We will enforce the law. We will hold offenders accountable. And we will safeguard the voting process for the citizens it is meant to serve,” Raybould added.
In July, New Jersey officials announced that roughly 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote. The state’s Democratic governor, Mikie Sherrill, blamed it on a “software error.”
Citing a “preliminary analysis” of the situation, Sherrill previously said that fewer than 400 of the noncitizens who were registered actually voted.
New Jersey is among several states where the Trump administration has faced difficulties when attempting to audit voter rolls to ensure noncitizens are not registered to vote.
The Justice Department sued New Jersey and four other states in February over “failure to produce their full voter registration lists upon request.”
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