RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal grand jury has indicted 10 people on charges of falsely claiming citizenship and of unlawful voting by a noncitizen in North Carolina’s 2024 elections.

Eight of the defendants appeared in court Thursday morning, the same day that early voting began statewide. The men and women were brought into a federal courtroom in handcuffs, where the charges were explained to them. All eight were released after their court appearances and will enter pleas at a later date.

The eight people present in court were described as legal permanent U.S. residents, and most have been in the country for decades. Another defendant is “an illegal alien,” according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle's office, which covers the Eastern District of North Carolina.

“Every noncitizen who chooses to illegally vote subverts our constitutional republic, actively canceling out the vote of a law-abiding citizen,” Boyle said. “... These indictments should serve as a stark warning to anyone contemplating voting illegally in our 2026 election: we are watching, we will find you if you do it, and we will prosecute you.”

WRAL first reported the charges.

The indictments are part of a larger effort of the Trump administration to prosecute noncitizens registering to vote and voting. At the end of last month, Homeland Security Investigations senior official Matthew Millhollin announced that the effort has led to 1,600 voter fraud cases and 160 arrests, the Associated Press reported.

Numerous studies, both nationally and in North Carolina, have found voter fraud to be exceedingly rare, The News & Observer previously reported.

Defendant says he recently learned he was not a citizen

The N&O spoke with two of the defendants outside the courthouse, both of whom said they were arrested on Wednesday and kept in custody overnight.

One of the defendants, Robert Corbett, of Wake County, said he has lived in the U.S. for over 50 years and only recently learned he was not a citizen.

“I was born in Canada. I did not find out that I was adopted until I was 51 years old, and my understanding was that my mother was American,” he said. “... I would never break the law.”

Corbett said he cast his vote for President Donald Trump in 2024, the election in which he is accused of voting illegally.

Asked how he felt about Trump’s administration bringing this charge, Corbett said, “maybe I need to call Donald Trump.”

Another defendant, Lawton McKenzie, of Wayne County, told reporters that he received mail inviting him to register to vote and presented his legal resident identification card when he voted.

“That’s entrapment,” he said. “... It’s just jacked up.”

Where the defendants are from

Each of the 10 defendants is charged with a felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine.

Three of the defendants are originally from Germany and two are from Jamaica. The remaining five are natives of Panama, Haiti, El Salvador, Canada and the former Yugoslavia.

Prosecutors did not explain how they identified the defendants during Thursday’s hearing. However, at an unrelated press conference held by the State Board of Elections to discuss the start of early voting, Executive Director Sam Hayes noted the board had shared information with federal authorities after running the voter rolls through a Department of Homeland Security database.

“I think a lot of that formed the basis of these investigations,” Hayes told the N&O. “... We’re always going to work with state and federal prosecutors to prosecute election crimes wherever we find it. But again, we presume folks are innocent until proven guilty, but we take election integrity very seriously here.”

Boyle has scheduled a press conference later in the day, at 2 p.m. to “discuss department actions.”

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