Efforts by the Trump administration to intensify prosecutions of noncitizens who illegally vote have resulted in only a limited number of cases, with many investigations failing to yield charges due to difficulties in proving intent or identifying wrongdoing, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.
Though it is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, prosecutors generally hesitate to file charges unless there is clear evidence that the individual knowingly voted unlawfully. Experts explained that accidental or unintentional votes by noncitizens are unlikely to result in convictions, which raises the evidentiary threshold required for prosecution.
One notable case involves David Neewilly, 73, from New Jersey, who was charged in April after attempting to remove himself from voter rolls in 2025. Federal authorities discovered he had registered in 2003 and voted in both the 2020 and 2024 elections. As of now, prosecutors continue to seek a plea deal, and formal grand jury indictments have not been filed. Neewilly and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Incidents of improper registration sometimes stem from misunderstandings of eligibility, language barriers, or cognitive impairments, complicating efforts to bring charges. Officials cited cases involving individuals with limited English proficiency and one with Alzheimer’s disease, where noncitizens were unaware they had registered or voted. Investigations have at times revealed errors such as a software glitch in New Jersey’s motor vehicle system that erroneously registered about 6,600 people, with some 400 subsequently casting ballots.
The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have collaborated to cross-check voter rolls with citizenship databases and recently issued warnings to state election officials about the potential for noncitizen voting. Still, many cases identified involved clerical or systemic errors rather than intentional fraud.
The administration’s public statements, including a recent prime-time address by President Donald Trump, have asserted widespread issues with noncitizen voter registration. Trump claimed that 278,000 noncitizens were registered to vote nationwide, a figure that experts and officials across parties say is inflated due to similarities in names, outdated records, and other inaccuracies.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson emphasized the administration’s commitment to ensuring accurate voter rolls and called for stronger voter identification and proof of citizenship requirements. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division chief, Harmeet K. Dhillon, has also actively highlighted isolated instances of voter fraud on social media, maintaining that unlawful voting diminishes the weight of lawful citizens’ ballots.
Legally, noncitizen voting is considered a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. Prosecutors have discretion to pursue cases only when confident they can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. While intent is not strictly required to convict under voting laws, cases lacking clear evidence of deliberate wrongdoing are regarded as difficult to prosecute. Legal experts note that many noncitizens who cast ballots do so out of confusion or misinformation, and prosecutorial reluctance is partly due to anticipated jury skepticism.
Felony charges may apply when noncitizens misrepresent citizenship on official forms like those used by the Department of Motor Vehicles or during voter registration, but these cases also necessitate proving intent to defraud.
A review of federal prosecutions shows relatively few cases have been brought against noncitizens accused of illegal voting. Notable recent prosecutions include charges in September 2025 brought by the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia against a Filipino citizen and several others accused of voting illegally in Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Jersey. Texas has also pursued cases following voter roll purges using federal citizenship data.
Training for designated District Election Officers, who respond to voting irregularities nationally, has shifted under the Trump administration to focus more narrowly on preventing ineligible individuals from voting, departing from broader past emphasis on combating intimidation or interference.
Despite heightened attention to voter fraud by the current administration, experts say the actual occurrence of noncitizen voting remains rare, and the challenges in prosecuting such cases contribute to the low number of formal charges.