The Department of Justice charged 48 foreign nationals with illegally voting in American elections and registering to cast ballots.

What we found

Supports. The DOJ primary press release, dated October 26, 2026, is titled 'Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 48 Aliens for Election-Related Crimes' and describes charges for illegal voting and fraudulent voter registration.[3]

Supports. Spectrum News and Manila Times both report the DOJ announced charges against 48 noncitizens/foreign citizens for illegal voting, fraudulent registration, and false citizenship claims, citing the department's announcement.[4][5]

Supports. Annie Dance's coverage and Ground News summarize the DOJ announcement as 48 noncitizens charged with illegal voting and fraudulent registration across five states.[6][7]

Context. The AP report on the California portion describes 28 of the 48 charged in a 'Operation Protect the Vote' sweep, and the DOJ states 47 of 48 are lawful permanent residents, one described as an illegal alien; this is consistent with the claim's 'foreign nationals' wording.[1][6]

Context. The claim's wording is a fair restatement of the passage, which credits the Justice Department with charging 48 foreigners; no figure or scope was widened in extraction. The Reuters review (source 1) notes an earlier, separate tally of about 20 cases and reports a broader count of 113 people across 20 states over seven weeks in AP's coverage, which describes a different set of charges and does not contradict the 48 figure.[1][2]

Sources

7 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 4 not rated

1. 1Justice Department charges more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen votersapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
2. 2Trump ramps up noncitizen voting prosecutions ahead of midtermsreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
3. 3Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 48 Aliens for ...justice.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
4. 4DOJ charges 48 noncitizens with election-related crimesspectrumlocalnews.com · not rated · cited for: supports
5. 54 Filipinos charged with illegal voting in US electionsmanilatimes.net · not rated · cited for: supports
6. 6DOJ announces charges against 48 noncitizensanniedance.substack.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
7. 79 Pa. Residents Accused of Voting as Non-Citizens in Past Elections ...ground.news · not rated · cited for: supports

Where this claim was made

Said in 1 published post

• Speaker Mike Johnson@SpeakerJohnson · Oct 28, 2026“'The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to crack down on voter fraud - @TheJusticeDept charged 48 foreigners with illegally voting in American elections and registering to cast ballots'”Post →