Federal agents arrested a Peruvian citizen on four criminal charges after she allegedly misrepresented herself as a U.S. citizen to cast a ballot in the 2024 general election, a case the White House says proves noncitizen voting is real and demands tougher safeguards.
ICE and Homeland Security Investigations officers took Mariana Alexandra Dewey into custody on September 1 in Kansas, charging her with one count of false claim of citizenship, one count of false claim of U.S. citizenship in order to vote, one count of fraudulent election conduct, and one count of voting by an alien in a federal election, the Daily Caller reported exclusively.
The arrest marks at least the second time federal authorities have charged a noncitizen with voting in a federal election in recent months, following a similar case in New Jersey over the summer. Together, the cases hand ammunition to congressional Republicans pushing the stalled SAVE America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the ballot box.
Investigators first contacted Dewey in April after she had moved addresses. During that call, Dewey initially told the officer she was a U.S. citizen. She then walked the claim back, clarifying that she was a lawful permanent resident, a green-card holder, not a citizen. On the same call, she allegedly confirmed that she had voted in the 2024 general election.
Authorities later obtained a provisional pollbook from Hope Church, the Kansas polling location where Dewey cast her ballot. They also recovered a Kansas Voter Registration Application. Both documents allegedly contained statements from Dewey affirming she was a U.S. citizen, the legal prerequisite for registering and voting in federal elections.
Lawful permanent residents may live and work in the United States, but federal law bars them from voting in federal elections. Doing so can carry criminal penalties and jeopardize a noncitizen's immigration status.
U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser framed the prosecution as part of a broader enforcement push. In a statement obtained by the Daily Caller, Kriegshauser said:
"The Department of Justice remains committed to protecting election integrity and is actively investigating and prosecuting these cases."
He added a pointed warning with another election approaching:
"With another election looming, the Department's effort serves as a stark reminder to individuals who are not legally authorized to vote not to engage in this conduct. Should individuals be determined by a court of law to have illegally claimed U.S. citizenship and voted or attempted to vote in federal elections, they will face serious criminal consequences."
White House Spokeswoman Lauren Bis seized on the case to push back against critics who have long dismissed concerns about noncitizen voting as overblown or nonexistent.
"Despite extreme Democrats and the media claiming it never happens, the evidence of non-citizens registering and voting in our elections continues to pile up."
Bis added that "any non-citizens found registering and voting in our elections will be arrested and held accountable," and declared: "Only Americans should be electing American leaders."
Democrats and some academic researchers have argued that noncitizen voting in federal elections is uncommon. A number of studies have reached that conclusion. But other research has shown that even a small number of illegal votes can shift outcomes in tight local and state-level races, a point that supporters of stricter voter-verification laws have pressed for years.
The Kansas case is not an isolated incident. In July, federal authorities arrested and charged a noncitizen in New Jersey for voting in a federal election. That case drew national attention and intensified calls for legislative action. Meanwhile, the broader fight over noncitizen voter data has produced friction between state and federal officials, with New Jersey's governor refusing to hand over records to the Trump Justice Department.
The arrest lands as House Republicans explore a new path for the SAVE America Act, formally known as H.R. 7296. The bill would require proof of American citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot in federal elections. President Trump has pushed congressional Republicans to pass the measure for months, but it has stalled, blocked, Republicans say, by Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News on Sunday that Republicans plan to attach the bill to a reconciliation package, a budget maneuver that requires only a simple majority in the Senate and sidesteps the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Johnson told host Maria Bartiromo:
"This time we're going to try to put it on a reconciliation bill, and the reason that's so important, Maria, as you know, is it prevents the necessity of 60 votes in the Senate. The Democrats want no part of this, and remember, this is very basic stuff."
Johnson argued the policy enjoys overwhelming public support:
"We're just going to make sure you have to have proof of citizenship to register to vote and then show an ID when you turn out at the ballot box. These are 90-10 public opinion issues, and more than 70 percent of Democrats want to do it, but not the Democrats in the House and Senate, and so we've got to go around them."
If Johnson's figures are accurate, the gap between rank-and-file Democratic voters and their elected representatives in Congress is striking. A policy that seven in ten Democrats supposedly favor cannot clear the Senate because Democratic senators refuse to support it. That disconnect is the kind of institutional failure that erodes public trust in elections, the very trust that cases like Dewey's already strain.
The reconciliation strategy carries risks. Senate parliamentarian rules could complicate attaching voter-ID requirements to a budget bill, and the maneuver would almost certainly provoke a fierce procedural fight. But Johnson's willingness to try signals that Republican leadership views the issue as a winner heading into the next election cycle.
At the municipal level, the debate has moved in the opposite direction in some progressive cities. Los Angeles recently advanced a measure to allow noncitizen voting in local elections, drawing sharp Republican backlash. The contrast could not be sharper: federal prosecutors are charging noncitizens who voted illegally while certain city governments actively invite noncitizens to the ballot box.
Dewey faces four federal charges, each tied to a different facet of the alleged fraud: falsely claiming citizenship, falsely claiming citizenship specifically to vote, engaging in fraudulent election conduct, and voting as an alien in a federal election. Whether she has entered a plea or retained legal counsel is not yet clear.
Several details remain unknown. The specific Kansas city or county where Dewey voted has not been publicly identified. Her length of residence in the United States and the circumstances under which she obtained lawful permanent resident status have not been disclosed. Nor is it clear whether the charges are exclusively federal or include state counts.
The legal fight over voter verification tools has also reached the Supreme Court. The Trump administration has taken its push for immigration-database access in voter-roll checks to the high court, arguing the federal government needs better tools to identify noncitizens on the rolls before ballots are cast rather than after.
Cases like Dewey's will keep surfacing as long as the system relies on the honor code. A provisional pollbook and a registration form asked whether she was a citizen. She allegedly checked yes. No one caught it until months later, after the vote had already been counted.
When the only barrier between an illegal ballot and a certified election result is a checkbox, the system is not protecting election integrity. It is outsourcing it to the people least likely to comply.
