It’s kind of fitting that these announcements come on Voter Registration Day.
First, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of seven noncitizens who have been indicted for illegal activity related to the 2024 general election.
For years, Attorney General Paxton has investigated ballot harvesting operations and illegal voting activity. As a result, numerous indictments, arrests, prosecutions, and charges have been made to protect the integrity of our elections. Attorney General Paxton had previously announced investigations into potential noncitizens voting in the 2024 election. Due to findings of the OAG, Attorney General Paxton, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI, and HSI have collaborated to charge seven individuals in Texas for illegal voting activity. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas indicted the individuals last week.
“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. “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.”
Mexican citizen Carlos Salas Barrios was arrested for Voting by an Alien. Nigerian national Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom was arrested for False Statements in Relation to Naturalization. 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 were all five arrested for both Voting by an Alien and False Statements of Citizenship in Order to Register to Vote.
Also today, the Texas Secretary of State announced that 117 cases of potential noncitizen voting have been referred to the Office of the Attorney General for investigation. The action is part of a larger update on Texas’ ongoing efforts to review voter citizenship ahead of the Nov. 3 Election.
“By law and according to our Constitution, citizenship is a requirement to vote in Texas, and we have a duty to ensure that only eligible voters participate in our elections,” Secretary of State Robert Howden said. “We also have a responsibility to make sure eligible citizens can exercise their right to vote, which is why we are taking great care with this data and conducting additional layers of due diligence.”
Last fall, the agency ran the names of the state’s 18 million registered voters through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database — a process that identified 2,724 potential noncitizens on the voter rolls. Those registrations were referred to county registrars to conduct their own investigations pursuant to state law.
In the weeks following this initial crosscheck, the Office of the Texas Secretary of State partnered with the Department of Public Safety to conduct a manual review of the 2,724 cases. In addition, the agency asked counties to report back the results of their local investigations.
This review narrowed the number of potential noncitizens. The additional review showed that 578 voters demonstrated citizenship. Of those, citizenship was proven for 506 because passport information was added to SAVE after the state’s initial run. The Office of the Texas Secretary of State advised counties to reinstate these registrations if they were removed.
In 2025, Texas became one of the first states to participate in a pilot program with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to perform voter list maintenance using SAVE — the nation’s primary source for citizenship data that is widely used by state and local governments, including DPS.
The deadline to register to vote in the next election is October 5th. To register to vote, or verify that you’re still on the voter rolls, visit votetexas.gov.
