A New Jersey state software error that mistakenly enrolled nearly 6,600 non-citizens on the voter rolls, roughly 400 of whom cast ballots, and a Homeland Security Investigations audit of public rolls that identified more than 250,000 registered noncitizens across California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada together frame Friday's federal enforcement announcement. The Justice Department charged five people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Wisconsin with crimes including unlawfully casting ballots, falsifying citizenship status, fraudulent voter registration, and aiding and abetting. The conduct covers the 2022 and 2024 elections.
Two of the five defendants are illegal immigrants; two others are non-citizens with legal status. Among the named defendants is Katya Rodriguez, 30, an illegal alien from Mexico residing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A federal grand jury indicted her on charges of providing a false statement of citizenship to vote, fraudulent registration, and voting as an alien in the 2024 election. Fox News Digital obtained footage of her arrest. The DOJ press release puts her maximum exposure at 11 years in prison, a term of supervised release, and a fine.
The enforcement machinery behind the charges
Homeland Security Investigations, which historically has focused on cartels and terrorism, has been repurposed to spearhead the search for unlawfully registered noncitizens. CNN reported internal directives describing a coordinated "voter fraud surge" targeting nine key states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin among them. The action is part of a broader Trump administration push ahead of the 2026 midterms. The DOJ has separately filed lawsuits against nearly 30 states demanding access to confidential voter rolls.
HSI Acting Executive Associate Director John A. Condon said in a statement that agents worked alongside federal partners to identify alleged criminal conduct, follow the evidence, and support prosecutions intended to reinforce public trust in elections. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that evidence of non-citizens registering to vote continues to pile up and that only Americans should be electing American leaders. The five defendants face charges that, under the DOJ press release, carry maximum sentences exceeding a decade on the false-citizenship-statement count.