Federal charges announced in Texas are part of broader Trump focus on noncitizen voting

Seven people in Texas who are not U.S. citizens have been charged with illegally voting in federal elections or falsely claiming citizenship, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced Tuesday as part of a broader Trump administration focus on noncitizen voting.

District Attorney Ryan Raybould said investigators determined the alleged conduct was not a misunderstanding or paperwork error.

The announcement came amid President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to draw attention to noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections and claim it’s a widespread problem, even though research shows it to be rare. Voting by noncitizens is punishable as a felony and can result in deportation.

The Texas charges were previewed earlier Tuesday by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche during a White House news conference. He told reporters there would be a “big development” on illegal voting in Texas.

Of those seven, Raybould’s office said, some voted while others attempted to vote in the 2024 and 2018 general elections. Others falsely claimed citizenship on a driver’s license or knowingly registered to vote. The office did not make any claim that the seven were colluding with each other.

Those charged ranged in age from 20 to 69 and had citizenship in countries including Mexico, India, Nigeria and Congo. Six of the seven charged were lawful permanent residents, according to a news release from Raybould’s office. One had been ordered to be deported in July.

Trump’s efforts to turn the spotlight on noncitizen voting have included pushing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to voters verified as U.S. citizens, a plan that was rejected Monday by the Supreme Court, and having the Justice Department sue to force the release of detailed voter data in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Those lawsuits have so far been unsuccessful.

Department of Homeland Security employees also have been examining state voter rolls in a hunt for noncitizens. A whistleblower statement released this week suggested the activity could run afoul of state laws.

In 2025, election officials in Texas investigated 2,724 registered voters flagged as potential noncitizens after the secretary of state’s office checked a federal database that is used to verify citizenship against the state’s voter rolls.

That office announced Tuesday that it has referred 117 of those cases to the Texas attorney general’s office for investigation of potential noncitizen voting after cross checking the results from the federal database with other agencies and passport information. That represents a minute fraction of the nearly 18 million registered voters in Texas.

One of the units involved in the investigation that led to the seven charges announced Tuesday is part of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. Paxton is in one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races this year against Democrat James Talarico.

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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.