WINDER, Ga. — A 64-year-old Mexican citizen living in Winder appeared in federal court after being charged with making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to vote in a federal election.
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Federal agents arrested Benito Covarrubias Iniguez following a criminal complaint filed on Oct. 16, 2026. He appeared before a judge in Gainesville.
According to federal prosecutors, Iniguez entered the United States from Mexico and fraudulently obtained a U.S. passport in 2000 under the identity of a citizen born in Puerto Rico. Investigators alleged Iniguez used the fraudulent identity to obtain a Georgia driver’s license, register to vote and cast a ballot in the Nov. 5, 2024 general election.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg emphasized federal enforcement efforts following the arrest.
“Votes of non-citizens impersonating Americans undermine the integrity of our cherished democratic process and diminish public confidence in our election results,” Hertzberg said. “This case and the many others brought in this district and around the country reinforce that non-citizens who vote in federal elections will be found, arrested and prosecuted.”
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce assigned to prosecute.
Ryan McSeveney, special agent in charge of the Diplomatic Security Service Miami Field Office, noted that the agency conducts passport fraud investigations across the region.
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“Protecting the integrity of U.S. elections requires enforcing the laws that govern who may lawfully participate,” McSeveney said. “DSS will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate passport fraud and false claims of U.S. citizenship wherever they occur.”
Iniguez is the fourth non-citizen charged since September 2026 with voting in federal elections within the Northern District of Georgia. Federal prosecutors previously filed charges against three other area residents in separate cases.
Pauline Lewis, 65, of Dawsonville appeared in federal court on Sept. 18, 2026, following her arrest on charges of voting as a non-citizen. Lewis, a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who entered the country on a student visa in 1979 and never became a citizen, allegedly voted by absentee ballot in the Nov. 3, 2020, Jan. 5, 2021, and Nov. 5, 2024 federal elections.
Gabriel Covarrubias, 44, of Lawrenceville waived indictment on Sept. 1, 2026, and was charged with making a false statement in a passport application and voting as a non-citizen.
Federal prosecutors alleged Covarrubias, a Mexican citizen, used a false identity claiming birth in Puerto Rico on a March 2023 passport application and voted in person under that name in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.
Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 43, of Morrow, appeared in court on Sept. 14, 2026, after being charged with voting as a non-citizen and making a false claim of U.S. citizenship.
Authorities alleged Eccles, a Venezuelan citizen who arrived on a visitor visa in 1991 and obtained Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status in 2013, voted nine times in elections between 2008 and 2024.
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