Fifth Alien Charged with Illegal Voting in Nevada: ‘Catastrophic Failure to Protect The Ballot Box’

Federal prosecutors in Nevada announced charges today against a fifth alien for illegally voting in a federal election, the latest case in a Justice Department push that has produced multiple similar prosecutions in the state in recent days while Democratic-led resistance to full voter-roll access continues.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada announced the charge of voting by an alien. As in the prior Nevada cases, the offense carries a maximum statutory penalty of one year of imprisonment, a fine of up to $100,000, or both. The case was investigated by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. 

According to the criminal information, on or about November 5, 2024, Mariela Delia Mendoza, an Argentine national and a lawful permanent resident of the United States living in Las Vegas, illegally voted in an election held in part for the purpose of electing a candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Member of the Senate, and Member of the House of Representatives. She was not a United States citizen.

“As this additional case demonstrates, there is a catastrophic failure to protect the ballot box,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada. “Every single illegal vote directly questions the very security of our elections and compromises public trust in our democratic processes. Our will enforce a zero-tolerance policy, and every single 611 case will be prosecuted to the absolute fullest extent of the law. We will aggressively hunt down and dismantle any attempts to compromise this election, and we will ensure that the voice of every lawful American citizen is completely protected from being diluted, neutralized, or stolen by illegal votes.”

This marks the fifth such charge in Nevada within a week. 

It follows the case against Jullie Ann Sumalinog Moore, a Filipino national and lawful permanent resident accused of voting in the November 2024 election; the charges against Moneir Elzobier Ali Yousif of Sudan and Khalida Safi of Afghanistan, both lawful permanent residents; and the fourth caseinvolving a Democratic Republic of Congo national and lawful permanent resident in Washoe County who allegedly voted in 2022.

As reported yesterday by the California Globe, the accelerating DOJ crackdown has already produced successive charges in Nevada, with prosecutors signaling that further cases are anticipated.

Earlier this month, the California Globe reported, the department charged 48 aliens across five states, including California and Nevada, for illegal voting, fraudulent registration, and related election crimes. On October 29, federal prosecutors charged 18 additional aliens—including one illegal alien—in North Carolina with illegally voting in the 2024 election, bringing the statewide total of noncitizens indicted for the offense this year to 30. 

Officials have said more than 100 such cases have been brought in a compressed period as enforcement intensified. The prosecutions occur against a backdrop of ongoing friction between the Justice Department and Democratic-led states over voter-roll access. 

The DOJ has sought unredacted statewide voter files to check compliance with federal maintenance rules and identify potential noncitizens. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has reported that reviews of records from cooperating states turned up more than 260,000 dead people and thousands of noncitizens registered to vote.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office delayed and failed to provide complete voter registration records to the DOJ after requests seeking all fields required under the Help America Vote Act. Aguilar’s office called aspects of the request “unprecedented” and cited privacy concerns. 

Separately, under the Democratic secretary of state, Nevada conducted a large-scale purge of over 300,000 registrations while resisting full federal review.

California has also blocked federal efforts to safeguard the ballot box. The Justice Department sought a temporary restraining order to sequester roughly 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots cast by individuals it identified as likely noncitizens until citizenship could be verified.

As reported by the Globe, Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the request in a blistering ruling, calling the last-minute intervention an attempt to “coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures,” questioning the reliability of the federal list, and warning it would disrupt an ongoing election and risk disenfranchising legitimate voters.

The DOJ immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which likewise rejected the emergency bid—first for lack of jurisdiction and then on the merits—leaving California free to process the flagged ballots under existing state procedures.

Only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections. Lawful permanent residents and other noncitizens who cast ballots violate federal law regardless of how they obtained registration. As midterm voting continues and early returns are tracked, the tension between federal enforcement and state resistance remains unresolved. Prosecutors have signaled they will continue bringing cases.