Joshua Frederick Kofi Edzie, a Ghanaian national living in Minnesota, is facing three federal counts — including voting in the August 2026 primary and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in both 2024 and 2026. He is one of ten foreign nationals from eight countries indicted by the Trump Department of Justice for voting illegally in a state Democrats have held since 1972.
The eight countries: Liberia, Lithuania, Ghana, Germany, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, and South Africa. Not a single American citizen among them. All allegedly cast ballots.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictments on September 30. "Today's charges allege that ten foreign nationals committed voter fraud in Minnesota, one voting illegally as recently as this August's primary," Blanche said. Nine of the defendants are accused of actually casting ballots as noncitizens. Nine face charges for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to register. One defendant is charged solely with the false citizenship claim during registration.
The penalties are not trivial. Falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote is a felony carrying up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Voting as a noncitizen is a misdemeanor — up to one year and a $100,000 fine. The elections covered span November 2022, November 2024, and August 2026.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added a detail that landed harder than the indictments themselves. Some state officials, Mullin revealed, likely knew about voter fraud and illegal voting but refused to prosecute. Minnesota. A state run by Democrats at every level. The fraud was happening, and the people responsible for stopping it looked the other way.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, who is handling the Minnesota prosecutions, framed it simply: voting is "a privilege of citizenship," and falsely swearing citizenship to obtain a ballot is a crime.
The ten Minnesota indictments are part of a much larger operation. The DOJ currently has 1,600 active voter-fraud investigations nationwide. Since Trump returned to office, the administration has made 100 administrative arrests, secured 53 criminal arrests, obtained 37 indictments, and locked in 10 convictions. In the past five weeks alone, 50 noncitizens have been charged. More than 90 people total have been charged with voter-related offenses since the new administration began, as reported by 100 Percent Fed Up.
For years, the argument was simple: voter fraud doesn't happen at scale, election integrity laws are solutions in search of a problem, and anyone who disagrees is trying to suppress minority votes. Minnesota's Democratic establishment repeated this line through every election cycle. The state resisted voter ID requirements. Officials publicly dismissed fraud concerns as conspiracy theories.
Ten indictments from eight countries in one state. 1,600 open investigations across the country. Fifty noncitizen charges in five weeks.
The conspiracy theory has a case number now.