TLDR:
- Justice Department found “several thousand noncitizens” registered to vote after checking 47.5 million voter roll names
- At least 10 immigrants federally charged with illegal voting in 2025, including a Kansas mayor who voted in 24+ elections
- Experts warn cases are “tip of the iceberg” with too few prosecutors to handle all violations
- Noncitizens often claim DMV clerks and voter registration workers told them they could register
The Trump administration’s review of voter rolls has uncovered “several thousand noncitizens” registered to vote across America, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon revealed this month.
The Justice Department has run 47.5 million names through federal databases, marking a dramatic shift in enforcement. Texas independently found about 2,800 potential noncitizens among its 18 million registered voters.
Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, called the findings “the tip of the iceberg.”
“There probably are not enough Assistant U.S. Attorneys available to prosecute all of the foreigners on American voter rolls,” Mr. Adams said.
Federal authorities brought voting cases against at least 10 immigrants in 2025. The most striking involved Jose Ceballos, who served as mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, while voting in at least two dozen elections since 2006 despite never attaining citizenship.
Mr. Ceballos told The Journal he believed his green card allowed him to vote. A friend said a county clerk told him registration was acceptable in 1991.
That explanation appears common. According to cases reviewed by The Times, legal immigrants say motor vehicle clerks and voter registration volunteers signed them up without stopping them.
The Homeland Security Department has streamlined access to citizenship databases for states checking voter rolls.
Read more:
• More cases of illegal voting are coming to light as GOP scrubs voter rolls
This article is written with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence based solely on Washington Times original reporting and wire services. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Ann Wog, Managing Editor for Digital, at awog@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
