Federal Charges for Noncitizen Voting: What Green Card Holders in Florida Need to Know Before the Midterms

Sixteen people were charged in a single federal announcement on September 18, 2026 for voting or registering to vote as noncitizens. Most were lawful permanent residents. None of these cases involves a complicated scheme. They turn on a box checked on a voter registration form, and on what the person said about citizenship when they checked it. That was the third such announcement in September alone. If you are a green card holder in Florida who registered to vote, the question is no longer academic.

Twenty-seven people were charged in eighteen days across eleven states. Most were lawful permanent residents, and several are alleged to have registered without ever casting a ballot.

Key Takeaways

• DOJ charged 16 people on September 18, 2026 for noncitizen voting and registration, the third such nationwide announcement in one month.
• The core counts are 18 U.S.C. 611, voting by an alien, and 18 U.S.C. 1015(f), a false citizenship claim made to register or vote.
• The collateral counts carry the real exposure. Naturalization fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1425 reaches ten years and triggers automatic denaturalization.
• Florida's Office of Election Crimes and Security referred 170 suspected noncitizen registrants to law enforcement in its January 2026 report.
• A conviction makes a lawful permanent resident removable under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(6), and no district judge can sentence around that consequence.

What the September 2026 Charging Wave Actually Looks Like

On September 18, 2026 the Justice Department announced charges against sixteen people across Texas, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Michigan. Two weeks earlier it announced five cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Four days before the sixteen-defendant announcement it announced six more in California, Kansas and Louisiana. Twenty-seven people charged in eighteen days, across eleven states and at least ten United States Attorney's Offices.

The charging structure is consistent. The government pairs a low-level voting count with a document or false-statement count that carries real time. In the Idaho case one registration generated an eight-count indictment: wire fraud, theft of government funds, false statement of citizenship to vote, voting by an alien, a false statement in a passport application, identification document fraud, a false statement during a firearm purchase, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The defendant profile is consistent too. Lawful permanent residents dominate these cases. People who came here legally, obtained green cards, in some instances applied for naturalization, and ended up on a voter roll. The conduct alleged is usually a single registration followed by voting in 2022 or 2024, and in several instances registration alone.

How These Cases Are Being Built, and Why Florida Is Next

These prosecutions do not start with a tip. They start with a database match. State election officials run voter rolls against federal immigration records, flag the hits, investigate and refer. The United States Attorney's Office then pulls the registration form, the DMV file, the naturalization file and the voting history. By the time anyone is contacted, the government already has the paper.

Florida built this pipeline before most states did. The Office of Election Crimes and Security, created under Fla. Stat. 97.022, investigates and refers election crime. In its January 2026 report the office identified 198 likely noncitizens who registered or voted and referred 170 of them to law enforcement. Florida has also secured expanded access to the federal SAVE system for citizenship verification, the same matching tool driving referrals where charges have already landed.

These cases do not begin with a witness. They begin with a records match. The registration form, the DMV file, the naturalization file and the voting history are already in the government's hands before anyone knocks.

No Florida district appeared in the September announcements. That is not comfort. Florida has three federal districts, an active state referral office, and one of the largest lawful permanent resident populations in the country. The referrals exist and the matching is done. Anyone practicing Southern District of Florida federal defense should expect this category on the docket.

Exposure: The Counts That Matter Are Not the Voting Counts

Voting by an alien under 18 U.S.C. 611 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year. A false statement of citizenship made to register or vote under 18 U.S.C. 1015(f) carries five years, as do the criminal provisions of federal election law at 52 U.S.C. 20511. Standing alone that is serious but survivable for a person with no criminal history.

The government does not charge them standing alone. A false claim of United States citizenship under 18 U.S.C. 911 carries three years. A false statement to a federal agency under 18 U.S.C. 1001 carries five. Naturalization fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1425 carries ten and triggers revocation of citizenship under 8 U.S.C. 1451(e). A false statement in a passport application under 18 U.S.C. 1542 carries ten. Identification document fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1028 and firearm counts under 18 U.S.C. 922 each reach fifteen. Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1343 carries twenty.

Then there is the consequence no sentencing judge controls. A conviction for unlawful voting makes a noncitizen removable under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(6) and inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(10)(D), and a false claim of citizenship carries its own inadmissibility ground with no general waiver. A probationary sentence on a one-year misdemeanor can still end a life in the United States.

The misdemeanor is not the problem. The passport count, the naturalization fraud count and the identification document count are, and so is the removal that follows a conviction no matter what the sentence looks like.

Florida Charges the Same Conduct at the State Level

Florida charges the same conduct at the state level. Fla. Stat. 104.15 makes it a third-degree felony for a person not qualified to vote to willfully vote, and Fla. Stat. 104.011 covers false swearing and false voter registration information. Parallel state and federal exposure on one set of facts is a real possibility, and it changes how you sequence a resolution.

The Mistakes That Turn a Form Into an Indictment

Talking to agents. These interviews are short and feel informal. An agent asks whether you registered, whether you knew you were ineligible, and who helped with the form. Every answer is a potential 18 U.S.C. 1001 count, often the strongest count in the file. If federal agents came to your house about a voter registration, call an FBI interview attorney rather than explain.

Assuming a registration is not a crime. People who never cast a ballot believe they are clear. Several of the September cases charge registration alone, because 18 U.S.C. 1015(f) is complete on the false citizenship statement itself.

Handing over documents to be helpful. Naturalization files, DMV records and old registration paperwork are what the government wants and may not yet have in full. Production without a strategy builds the case.

Waiting for charges. This is a pre-indictment defense problem. The file is built from records, so the facts are largely fixed before anyone is contacted. The charging decision is not, and that is the part a lawyer can still move.

"Every answer is a potential 18 U.S.C. 1001 count, often the strongest count in the file."— Aaron M. Cohen, AMC Defense Law

What a Defense Actually Looks Like in These Cases

Start with knowledge, because that is where these cases are weakest. Sections 611 and 1015(f) require more than a wrong box. The government has to prove the person knew they were not a citizen and made the claim or voted anyway. Many of these registrations were generated at a driver's license counter under a motor voter process, at a registration drive, or by a volunteer completing the form for someone else. Section 611 also has a narrow exception for people who reasonably believed they were citizens based on parentage and residence.

Then work the collateral counts down. The negotiation is rarely about whether the person registered. It is about whether the resolution includes a naturalization fraud count, a passport count or an identification document count. Pre-charge negotiation with the AUSA on count selection is where a ten-year maximum becomes a one-year maximum, and it happens before an indictment.

Finally, build the person. Long lawful residence, work history, family here and the absence of any intent to affect an election outcome are the substance of a 3553(a) variance argument and, more usefully, of a declination request. The immigration consequence of a federal sentence belongs in that record from the start.

Why the Next Six Weeks Matter

The midterm election is in November. Announcements in this category have come at roughly two-week intervals through September. Referral backlogs sitting with United States Attorney's Offices are being worked now, and Florida's referrals are part of that backlog.

The practical point is narrow. If you are a noncitizen who registered or voted, or you have received a letter from a state election office, a subpoena or a visit, the useful window is the one before a charging decision. Once an indictment is returned, the count structure is set and the immigration consequence is largely set with it. Before that, count selection, declination and pretrial diversion are all still live. A federal grand jury subpoena attorney can engage the office directly.

Common Questions

Under Investigation for Voting or Voter Registration in Florida?

AMC Defense Law represents noncitizens and lawful permanent residents in federal investigations and prosecutions involving voting, registration, naturalization, passport and identification document allegations, in Florida and nationwide. If you have been contacted by federal agents, received a letter from a state election office, or been served with a grand jury subpoena, the most useful work happens before a charging decision. Consultations are confidential. Call 561.542.5494 to discuss your situation privately.

Aaron M. Cohen, founder of AMC Defense Law, represents noncitizens and lawful permanent residents in federal voting, registration, naturalization and passport investigations in Florida and nationwide.

If you or your loved ones have been arrested, are under federal investigation, or have received a target letter, call Aaron M. Cohen, 24 hours a day to get help.