Seven noncitizens charged with illegal voting in Texas as part of Trump administration crackdown

Federal and state officials in Texas have charged seven noncitizens with illegal voting or falsely claiming citizenship as part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on noncitizen voting. The defendants, mostly lawful permanent residents from countries like Mexico and Nigeria, were indicted following a joint investigation by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office. Meanwhile, Texas officials referred 117 other cases for investigation but confirmed the citizenship of 578 previously flagged voters.

Texas noncitizen voting charges

• ▪U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould stated that investigators determined the alleged noncitizen voting conduct was not a misunderstanding or paperwork error.
• ▪Seven noncitizens in Texas were charged with illegally voting in federal elections or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship.
• ▪The seven individuals charged in Texas include citizens of Mexico, India, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranging in age from 20 to 69.
• ▪Six of the seven individuals charged in Texas are lawful permanent residents, while one is an undocumented Mexican citizen who was ordered deported in July.

Trump administration election crackdown

• ▪The Trump administration's election efforts included a U.S. Postal Service mail ballot verification plan rejected by the Supreme Court on September 14, 2026.
• ▪The U.S. Justice Department previously charged five individuals in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Jersey with voting-related crimes in September 2026.
• ▪The charges in Texas are part of a broader Trump administration effort to investigate and prosecute noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections.

Federal agency collaboration

• ▪The criminal charges in Tarrant County resulted from a collaboration between the Texas Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations.
• ▪Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested six defendants in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, while the seventh defendant surrendered to federal authorities.

Democratic voter data concerns

• ▪A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the agency's actions, stating they cross-referenced publicly available voter rolls with known noncitizens in federal databases.
• ▪Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Alex Padilla released a complaint from an anonymous whistleblower alleging DHS voter roll searches may violate state laws.

Texas voter roll review

• ▪Voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit in March 2026 challenging Texas's initial failure to check flagged voters against Department of Public Safety records.
• ▪The Texas Secretary of State's Office referred 117 cases of potential noncitizen voting to the Texas Attorney General's Office for investigation.
• ▪Texas state officials confirmed the U.S. citizenship of 578 registered voters who were initially flagged as potential noncitizens in a federal database.

Debatable claims

• ▪The Department of Homeland Security should cross-reference state voter rolls with federal databases
• ▪Noncitizen voting is a widespread threat to U.S. election integrity
• ▪Texas should check flagged voters against state driver's license records before investigating them