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Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury has indicted ten legal permanent residents accused of illegally voting or attempting to do so in several Minnesota elections, including the state’s August 2026 primary.
The ten defendants, from Liberia, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Bosnia, Germany, Ghana and Lithuania, allegedly lied to election officials and told them they were U.S. citizens in order to register to vote.
They were accused of voting in the 2022 and 2024 general elections, according to court records.
“Voter fraud erodes public trust in our election system, and it is vital to our democratic process that we do everything we can to restore that trust,” Blanche said at a news conference announcing the charges.
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“The easiest way for the Justice Department to restore trust is to ensure that the only people who vote in a United States election are U.S. citizens eligible to vote.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks alongside U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen during a news conference September 30, 2026 in Washington, DC, announcing the arrest of 10 people for allegedly voting illegally in Minnesota’s election. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The 10 defendants were charged separately. They are Bhator Konah Bryant, 61, from Liberia; Edvile Vaidoto Edmunds, 59, from Lithuania; Joshua Frederick Kofi Edzie, 63, from Ghana; Alan Barbu Kargbo, 48, from Liberia; Paul Kras, 78, from Germany; Fadil Rasim Ozegovic, 58, from Bosnia; Aparecido Donizetti Padovan, 62, from Brazil; Chris Adam Pettiquoi, 43, from Liberia; Christian Liam Schenk, 47, from Canada; and Hester Sophia Weihmann, 69, of South Africa.
Bryant appears to be the only defendant who was not charged with voting illegally, having only falsely claimed citizenship in 2024 to register.
Making a false declaration of citizenship to vote is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while casting a non-citizen vote is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Blanche also expressed frustration that the media has not, in her view, taken seriously the Justice Department’s work in prosecuting election fraud cases.
Homeland Security Investigations agents stand on either side of Alan Barbu Kargbo, a 48-year-old Liberian national who allegedly voted illegally in the 2024 elections. (Ministry of Justice)
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“I don’t know what number is going to work for you guys. Whether it’s 106, maybe 120,” he said, referring to a hypothetical number of investigations. “At some point it has to make sense to the media.”
Blanche said that since President Donald Trump returned to office, the Justice Department has charged more than 90 people with election fraud crimes, including 50 illegal immigrants, in the past five weeks.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there have been 10 convictions related to voter fraud and there are more than 1,600 active investigations into similar behavior across the country.
Mullin did not respond to a reporter’s question about how the department plans to use the Systematic Alien Rights Verification database, known as SAVE, to identify voters who may not be eligible before the midterm elections.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin speaks during a press conference in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building September 30, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the administration can use the database to verify voter eligibility while the litigation continues. SAVE has historically been used to help government agencies verify whether noncitizens applying for public benefits are eligible to receive them.
State use of the SAVE database is voluntary, but federal law generally prohibits states from conducting systematic voter roll purges within 90 days of a federal election. With the midterm elections less than a month away, the Supreme Court’s decision is expected to have limited immediate impact.
During the same news conference Wednesday, Blanche also announced that the Justice Department had filed a judicial misconduct complaint with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals against several federal judges in Minnesota who spoke to The New York Times about cases that the department said were still pending.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conduct immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis on January 28, 2026. (Madison Thorn/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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The article, published September 17, centered on an interview with Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, who said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated nearly 100 federal district court orders in Minnesota at the height of Operation Metro Surge, which saw hundreds of federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis throughout January of this year.
Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, told the Times that the alleged violation of those orders was likely due to incompetence and understaffing at the Justice Department.
Blanche said Schiltz’s airing of various complaints against the Trump administration to the Times constituted a violation of judicial canons and his ethical duties.
“We have asked the 8th Circuit to conduct an investigation, and in the meantime, we request that these judges recuse themselves from any matter involving DHS, whether criminal or civil in nature, due to the obvious bias they have demonstrated in this article,” Blanche said.
Shiltz issued this response to Fox News: “As legal ethics experts have confirmed, I acted within the ethical rules that apply to federal judges in speaking to the New York Times. Indeed, in February of this year, the Codes of Conduct Committee issued an advisory opinion to emphasize that federal judges can “speak and write on fundamental judicial issues such as upholding the rule of law and judicial independence.” That’s exactly what I did.”
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