Federal agents in Pennsylvania have arrested an illegal immigrant on charges of voter fraud, part of a wider Department of Justice sweep that has resulted in criminal charges against five people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin for illegal voting, falsifying citizenship status and related offences. The arrests form part of a nationwide push by the Trump administration ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, involving lawsuits against nearly 30 states to obtain voter roll data and the redeployment of Homeland Security Investigations, an agency usually focused on cartels and terrorism, to pursue non-citizens allegedly registered to vote.

Among those charged is Katya Rodriguez, 30, an undocumented Mexican national living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who was indicted for allegedly providing a false citizenship statement to register and vote in the 2024 election, and who faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted. The DOJ said the five people charged included two illegal immigrants and two non-citizens with legal status, accused of offences during the 2022 and 2024 elections. The action follows revelations that a New Jersey software error had mistakenly registered nearly 6,600 non-citizens to vote, with about 400 casting ballots, and a Homeland Security audit that identified more than 250,000 registered non-citizens across California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada. Officials confirmed a coordinated "voter fraud surge" is under way across nine states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.