White House unloads on violent ‘criminal alien’ nabbed after investigators uncover election offense
A Bahamian national who arrived in the U.S. during President Gerald Ford’s administration and was living with a green card while racking up a violent rap sheet before investigators found he voted illegally in the 2020 election, sparking the deportation process, officials say.
The case of Anthony Tyrone Higgs is only the latest in a slew of arrests connected to illegal votes cast in recent elections, as the Trump administration engages in a broader crackdown on election integrity-related crimes.
"This alien was a guest in our country who forfeited his right to be in the U.S. when he committed these violent crimes and voted in the 2020 election," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis exclusively told Fox News Digital on Friday.
"Any non-citizens who vote illegally in our elections will be arrested and removed. American elections are only for Americans."
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of DHS, confirmed in a statement that Higgs had illegally voted in the 2020 election.
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HSI’s Atlanta office arrested Higgs in Decatur, Georgia on September 3, and he is currently in the custody of ERO, the ICE subdivision that handles migrant removal operations.
Higgs was admitted into the U.S. in October 1976 as a Lawful Permanent Resident – commonly dubbed a Green Card holder. The Trump DHS has since placed him in proceedings to revoke his immigration status due to his lengthy rap sheet.
"This criminal alien from the Bahamas has a rap sheet for multiple violent crimes, including armed robbery, domestic violence, and assault on a police officer," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
"On top of all of that, he illegally voted in the 2020 election," he added.
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Higgs’ record also includes resisting arrest, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Of the voting-related charge, Mullin said that just one noncitizen casting a ballot is enough to cancel out an American citizen’s vote.
"Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again," he continued.
DHS also provided several other recent cases of illegal immigrants or ineligible voters committing or being charged with election-related crimes.
In August, Colombian illegal immigrant Carlos Jaramillo-Grajales was sentenced to three years in prison following an ICE investigation that led to a guilty plea in a case where he was found to have committed identity theft to illegally vote in elections for more than 20 years, according to the agency.
"Federal immigration laws serve to safeguard our nation’s borders and protect the integrity of our government," said Gregory Kehoe, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.
"Those who seek to circumvent, exploit, or break these laws will be prosecuted fully," he said in an August statement.
In New Jersey, a Slovakian national was found to have illegally voted in the 2022 midterms, according to HSI – which also cited the case of an Australian national accused of illegally casting ballots in both 2022 and 2024 in Louisiana.
Mauritanian national Mahady Sacko was busted by an ICE and FBI partnership in Democrat-run Philadelphia, and charged with voter fraud.
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Sacko allegedly voted illegally multiple times going back to 2008. He was already under an order of removal, DHS said in a statement, stating that he "exhausted all appeals" and an immigration board upheld his removal order as of 2002 but he remained in the country.
Returning to the case of Higgs, Mullin added in a statement: "Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again."
