A Cuban permanent resident in the United States is among the 16 foreign individuals against whom the Department of Justice announced federal charges on Monday related to illegal voting and other electoral offenses.
The accused is Pedro Pablo Ruiz, 68 years old, who was charged in the Eastern District of Louisiana for allegedly voting without being a U.S. citizen in the 2024 general elections, according to the Department of Justice.
Ruiz has permanent legal residency in the United States. According to the accusation, he cast a ballot in the 2024 elections, a conduct prohibited by federal law for those who do not hold U.S. citizenship.
The Cuban is one of the 16 legal permanent residents included in the cases announced this Monday. The defendants come from 14 countries, including Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Italy, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Germany, and South Africa.
The processes are distributed among the federal districts of Florida, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The charges include illegal voting by foreigners, false declarations of U.S. citizenship to register or vote, and fraud related to voter registration.
Among the cases noted by the Department of Justice is that of Sara Luma, a 30-year-old citizen of North Macedonia and a legal permanent resident, accused of registering and voting on the same day as the November 2024 elections in Wisconsin.
According to the complaint, Luma signed a form certifying that she was a United States citizen. The Department of Justice also stated that she later admitted to a federal agent that she had registered and voted.
In Florida, 60-year-old Italian Andrea Catanese is facing charges for allegedly voting in the 2024 elections and later declaring during his naturalization process that he had never participated in federal elections.
The announcement is part of an intensification of federal processes regarding the voting of non-citizens under the administration of Donald Trump.
Reuters reported in September that the Department of Justice had filed charges against 32 individuals for illegal voting by non-citizens in just four weeks, as the federal government intensified these investigations ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The case of Ruiz is not the first involving a Cuban. In January, a Cuban with a deportation order in effect since 1999 was sentenced to five years in prison after illegally voting in Arkansas in November 2024.
More recently, authorities announced charges against a dozen people in Florida for alleged illegal voting, including foreigners accused of registering as U.S. citizens.
The Department of Justice emphasized that the charges consist solely of allegations and that all defendants are presumed innocent until their guilt is proven in court.
Related videos:
Filed under: