A federal grand jury in Wilmington, N.C., returned indictments on Friday against 19 people on charges of “voting by an alien.”
The 19 people cast ballots illegally in the 2016 election, the Justice Department said.
According to the Justice Department, those charged were from Mexico, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nigeria, Philippines, Grenada, Guyana, Japan, Germany, Poland, Italy, Haiti, and Korea.
A 20th defendant was charged with “aiding and abetting” one of the 19 defendants who falsely claimed U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote.
The cases are being investigated by a task force in North Carolina led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and assisted by Enforcement Removal Operations and the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.
The announcement comes amid renewed debate over state-level voter fraud and what critics say is an effort by Republicans to impose harsh voting restrictions. Trump has claimed millions of people voted illegally in 2016 to support Hillary Clinton.
