Fourth Foreign National Arrested in North Georgia over Voting in Federal Elections: Lived 26 Years under a Fraudulent Passport Identity
A resident of Winder, a city in Barrow County, Georgia, was arrested by federal agents on November 2: Benito Covarrubias Iniguez, 64, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, appeared that day before United States Magistrate Judge Anna W. Howard on federal charges of making a false claim of citizenship in order to vote after allegedly obtaining a fraudulent passport, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced.
According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court, in 2000, after entering the United States from Mexico, Iniguez fraudulently obtained a passport in the name of a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico. Using that fraudulent identity, he later obtained a Georgia driver's license, registered to vote, and then voted in the November 5, 2024 general election. On October 16, 2026, Iniguez was charged in a criminal complaint with making a false claim of U.S. citizenship in order to vote in a federal election, and federal agents arrested him on November 2.
"Votes of non-citizens impersonating Americans undermine the integrity of our cherished democratic process and diminish public confidence in our election results," Hertzberg said. "This case and the many others brought in this district and around the country reinforce that non-citizens who vote in federal elections will be found, arrested, and prosecuted."
Iniguez is the fourth foreign national charged since September 2026 with voting in federal elections in the Northern District of Georgia. The others are Pauline Lewis, 65, an Antigua and Barbuda citizen residing in Dawsonville, alleged to have voted by absentee ballot in the November 5, 2024, January 5, 2021, and November 3, 2020 federal elections, who appeared in court on September 18, 2026 after her arrest; Gabriel Covarrubias, 44, a Mexican citizen residing in Lawrenceville, alleged to have voted in person under a false name in the November 5, 2024 general election and to have made false statements in a March 2023 passport application, charged by criminal information on September 1, 2026; and Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 43, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Morrow, alleged to have voted nine times between 2008 and 2024, who appeared in court on September 14, 2026 after her arrest.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). Ryan McSeveney, Special Agent in Charge of the DSS Miami Field Office, said protecting the integrity of U.S. elections requires enforcing the laws that govern who may lawfully participate, and that DSS will continue working closely with law enforcement partners to investigate passport fraud and false claims of U.S. citizenship wherever they occur. Assistant United States Attorney Brian Pearce is prosecuting the case.
Members of the public are reminded that the complaint only contains charges; the defendant is presumed innocent, and it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. These prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于佐治亚州 Gainesville 的联邦大楼与联邦法院。Carol M. Highsmith 摄，美国国会图书馆藏，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Gainesville, Georgia. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
