The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday charged 10 people who are not U.S. citizens with voter fraud crimes in Minnesota.
The charges include nine counts of illegal voting by a non-citizen and nine counts of falsely representing citizenship to vote, according to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Blanche made the announcement during a press conference at the White House. He said the 10 accused voted illegally in the 2022, 2024 general elections and the August 2026 primaries. Those charged are citizens of Brazil, Ghana, Bosnia, Lithuania, Germany, Canada, South Africa and Liberia.
“Voter fraud erodes public confidence in our electoral system and it is vital to our democratic process that we do everything we can to restore that confidence,” he said.
Since President Trump took office in 2025, the Justice Department has charged 90 people with election fraud crimes, including 50 people in the last five weeks.
“In Minnesota, if you are not a citizen, do not attempt to vote. We will prosecute you. If you are found guilty, you will face prison time and consequences,” said Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said his office is currently investigating 1,600 cases of suspected voter fraud.
According to the DOJ, a conviction for falsely claiming citizenship in order to vote carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. Voting as a foreign national is an offense punishable by up to one year in prison.
“Minnesota is widely known for its exceptional voter turnout, election security, and overall election administration. These indictments reinforce the fact that non-citizen voting is an extremely rare crime. If these indictments result in convictions, that would represent ten people over a period in which approximately 8.5 million votes were cast in Minnesota,” the Secretary of State’s office said.
Also during the press conference, Blanche said her office had filed a complaint complaint of judicial misconduct against federal judges in Minnesota who recently spoke to the New York Times about Operation Metro Surge and the Trump administration disregard of court orders.
Blanche said the claims in the article were “not even true and patently false,” and asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate and said judges should recuse themselves from any cases involving the Department of Homeland Security.
Rebeccah Parks, public information officer for the U.S. District Court, said the judges were “acting well within ethical guidelines.”
Professor Richard Painter of the University of Minnesota Law School agrees, saying judges will likely move forward with their caseloads.
“There’s no reason to file an ethics complaint when a judge won’t talk about a pending case,” Painter said. “These judges were simply expressing what they thought about the conduct of the U.S. government in their courts.”
Attorney General Keith Ellison said Blanche’s comments constituted a “desperate and dangerous attack on American judicial independence.”
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