A federal grand jury has charged 10 foreign nationals with casting illegal ballots in Minnesota elections while falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, and Attorney General Todd Blanche vows criminal charges and deportation will follow.
The Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury returned separate indictments on Sept. 24 against the 10 defendants on charges of making false claims of citizenship to vote and voting as aliens. Prosecutors say the group illegally cast ballots in the November 2022 and November 2024 general elections and the August 2026 primary, with some registration-related conduct alleged in October 2024.
All 10 defendants have made initial appearances in federal court. The investigation was handled by Homeland Security Investigations, with the prosecution led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph S. Teirab under U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was also named in the announcement context.
Newsmax reported the defendants include lawful permanent residents from countries such as Liberia, Lithuania, Ghana, Brazil, Bosnia, Germany, Canada, and South Africa. Named defendants include Joshua Frederick Kofi Edzie, a 63-year-old Ghanaian national; Christian Liam Schenk, a 47-year-old Canadian; Bhator Konah Bryant, a 61-year-old Liberian; and Edvile Vaidoto Edmunds, a 59-year-old Lithuanian.
Prosecutors allege Edzie voted illegally in Minnesota on Aug. 11 and falsely claimed citizenship on two separate occasions. Schenk is accused of illegally voting in November 2024 and making a false citizenship claim. Bryant faces a single count of false citizenship claim for allegedly misrepresenting her status when registering in October 2024. Edmunds is charged with voting by alien for allegedly casting a ballot in November 2022.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the cases as basic enforcement of a clear rule.
Blanche stated:
"The law is clear, only American citizens may vote in American elections, and enforcing this law is fundamental to our democracy,"
He added a direct warning to noncitizens who try to vote:
"We will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences, including criminal charges and deportation."
The maximum penalty for a false citizenship claim to vote is five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Voting by an alien is charged as a class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine.
These Minnesota indictments land alongside other recent enforcement steps, including a case where the DOJ arrested a Honduran national on voter fraud charges as part of a broader election-integrity push.
Several of the defendants are accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship when they registered to vote in October 2024, days before that year’s general election. Others allegedly voted in November 2024 without making additional citizenship claims at the time of voting, while still facing charges tied to voting as aliens.
The charging pattern stretches across election cycles. One defendant is tied to a November 2022 ballot. Another is linked to an August vote date. The group as a whole is accused of illegal participation that reached into the August 2026 primary as well.
Federal officials have repeatedly flagged the risk of noncitizens remaining on voter rolls. That concern has driven separate fights over list maintenance, including when the Supreme Court restored power to remove illegal immigrants from voter rolls.
False claims at registration and illegal ballots at the polls are exactly the conduct these indictments target. The cases do not rest on abstract theories. They rest on specific alleged acts: a registration form, a claimed citizenship status, and a ballot cast in a federal election.
Each defendant was indicted separately. Each has already appeared in federal court for an initial appearance. The next steps will turn on the evidence presented on the false-citizenship and alien-voting counts.
Similar prosecutions have produced real sentences when the facts held up in court. In one comparable matter, a Colombian illegal immigrant was sentenced to three years for voting fraud and identity theft.
Blanche’s office is treating citizenship as a bright-line requirement, not a paperwork technicality. The stated penalties make that plain: multi-year exposure on the felony false-claim charge, and a full year of possible jail time even on the misdemeanor alien-voting count.
Election-integrity fights have also focused on the sheer scale of questionable registrations. The Trump administration has pointed to large numbers of noncitizens appearing on rolls in the run-up to midterms, a claim detailed in coverage of 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls as those contests intensify.
Earlier federal handling of registration-fraud allegations has drawn scrutiny as well, including when declassified FBI files showed the DOJ blocked a full probe of alleged 2020 voter registration fraud in Michigan.
In Minnesota, the current cases move the other direction: indictment, initial appearance, and a public warning that criminal charges and deportation are on the table.
Only citizens get a ballot. When foreign nationals cast one anyway, the remedy is prosecution, not another lecture about feelings.
