The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) has taken advantage of the midterm election day to spread on its social networks six releases about detentions of foreign people accused of voting illegally. However, none of the arrests took place this Tuesday, November 3, according to CBS News.
The posts, shared while millions of Americans went to the polls to renew Congress, include photographs of the suspects with their faces blurred and highlighted messages in capital letters. However, ICE does not specify in those messages when the detentions were carried out, which, according to information from CBS News, took place during the previous week.
The dissemination of these cases coincides with an election day in which the integrity of the vote and the participation of people without U.S. citizenship are part of the political debate.
Six posts about arrests prior to the elections
Information from CBS News points to a difference between the time chosen by ICE to disclose the arrests and the dates on which they actually occurred.
Although the six releases appear on social media during election day, the police actions they describe are earlier. The agency also does not identify in those posts any new arrest related to a suspected illegal voting during this Tuesday’s elections.
The absence of dates in the messages shared may make it difficult for readers to distinguish between recent detentions and actions carried out specifically during the elections.
In any case, the detentions announced do not amount to convictions. The people arrested are accused of conduct that is allegedly illegal, but their criminal responsibility must be determined through the corresponding judicial procedures.
Who can vote in U.S. federal elections
U.S. law reserves the right to vote in federal elections for citizens of the country who meet the electoral requirements. Foreign people who have not acquired citizenship cannot legally participate in the election of members of Congress or the president.
Federal regulations include penalties for voting illegally, although the existence of a detention alone does not demonstrate that the investigated offense was committed.
The six cases publicized by ICE also do not allow conclusions to be drawn about the magnitude of the illegal vote in the 2026 midterm elections. To determine their scope, it would be necessary to have corroborated data on possible violations, investigations, and judicial rulings.
The publication of these communiqués takes place while the scrutiny of elections decisive for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate continues; their outcome will determine the parliamentary checks and balances on the Administration of Donald Trump during the last two years of his term.