Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that seven foreign nationals were arrested last week for alleged illegal voting activity in the 2024 General Election.
Five noncitizens were arrested on charges of Voting by an Alien and False Statements of Citizenship in Order to Register to Vote. They are Nigerian national Helen Mayen Adams; Indian citizen Khalwinder Singh Bhengura; Mexican citizen Moises Anwar Arellano-Alba; Democratic Republic of the Congo national Celestin Kuasa Katubadi; and Mexican citizen Rocio Thrasher.
Mexican citizen Carlos Salas Barrios was arrested for Voting by an Alien, while Nigerian national Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom was arrested for False Statements in Relation to Naturalization.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas indicted the seven noncitizens after a joint effort with Attorney General Paxton, the FBI, and HSI.
“Foreign influence has no place in American elections. Today, my office is announcing our efforts to arrest foreigners who attempted to cheat the system and violate our laws that uphold election integrity,” said Attorney General Paxton.
The arrests come as the Texas Secretary of State’s office has referred 117 cases of potential noncitizen voting to the attorney general.
Paxton’s investigation into illegal voting activity and ballot harvesting is ongoing. According to the Office of the Attorney General, “A key priority of the Attorney General is to investigate and prosecute, when requested, allegations of voter fraud to ensure election integrity within Texas.”
The ongoing investigations are aided by access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which was provided to all states at no cost by President Trump’s executive order.
Paxton has pledged support for election integrity as the November elections approach.
“I will not tolerate attempts to rig elections and silence the will of American citizens and voters. I will continue to fight to ensure that Texas has free and fair elections,” said Paxton.
