DOJ Charges Five in Noncitizen Voting Cases

The Justice Department announced Friday that federal prosecutors charged five people this week with illegal voting or helping a noncitizen register, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin.

Four of the five are noncitizens. The fifth, a U.S. citizen, is accused of helping his wife register and vote.

The alleged votes were cast in the 2022 and 2024 elections. Officials also released video of Homeland Security Investigations agents arresting one defendant at a Harrisburg apartment.

The Charges

Thomas Holtzman, 68, and his wife Marisol Guzman, 50, both of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, were indicted by a federal grand jury over Guzman allegedly voting as a noncitizen in the 2024 election. Guzman was charged with voting as an alien; Holtzman, an American citizen, was charged with aiding and abetting a false statement of citizenship in order to vote, and fraudulent registration.

Katya Rodriguez, 30, described by prosecutors as an illegal immigrant from Mexico living in Harrisburg, was indicted on charges of false statement of citizenship in order to vote, fraudulent registration, and voting as an alien in the 2024 election.

Mercedes Alexandra Cardoso, in New Jersey, is charged with voting in person in the June 2024 primary after allegedly certifying falsely that she was a U.S. citizen when she registered through the state's online system.

Jesus Javier Jurado Garcia, 25, a Mexican national, is charged in Wisconsin with voting in the November 2022 midterm election despite knowing he was not a citizen.

The two Pennsylvania cases against Holtzman and Rodriguez are felonies. The New Jersey and Wisconsin cases are misdemeanor "voting as an alien" charges.