The Department of Homeland Security announced on September 10, 2026, that Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Mariana Alexandra Dewey, a citizen of Peru, after investigators determined that she voted in the November 5, 2024, General Election in Sedgwick County, Kansas. DHS said Dewey, who acknowledged being a lawful permanent resident rather than a U.S. citizen, ultimately pleaded guilty to disorderly election conduct under Kansas law.
According to DHS, investigators reviewed election records showing that Dewey signed the provisional pollbook at the Hope Church polling location and submitted a Kansas Voter Registration Application on Election Day. Both documents included statements made under penalty of perjury affirming eligibility to vote, including U.S. citizenship, and Dewey checked “Yes” when the registration form asked whether she was a U.S. citizen.
An investigator contacted Dewey by telephone on April 1, 2026, after learning that she had moved from her previously listed address, DHS said. During that interview, she initially said she was a U.S. citizen, then clarified that she was a lawful permanent resident and not a citizen. She also confirmed that she had voted in the 2024 General Election.
HSI special agents located Dewey at a Wichita residence on September 1, 2026. The agency said its agents determined that she was in violation of U.S. immigration law and transported her to a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility for processing. DHS did not provide the date of her guilty plea or details of any sentence in the supplied statement.
DHS presented the arrest as part of the Trump administration’s broader enforcement focus on voting by non-citizens. The department cited other recent investigations and arrests involving alleged or admitted illegal voting in New Jersey, Louisiana and Kansas, as well as cases involving citizens of Colombia, Slovakia, Australia, Mexico and Mauritania.
The department also said it had recently taken additional election-related measures. It identified July letters from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to state election officials concerning non-citizens registered to vote, new Federal Emergency Management Agency grant requirements announced in July, and a June directive instructing ICE to enforce stricter penalties, including deportation, against non-citizens who vote illegally.