Amid a nationwide crackdown on illegal voting, federal prosecutors in Tennessee on Friday reported six foreign nationals living in the Volunteer State who are accused of illegally voting in United States elections.
In the Middle District of Tennessee, U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek revealed charges against three foreign nationals who allegedly voted in 2024.
Boucek’s office named Garfield St. Vincent Bruce, a 48-year-old Jamaican national; Mariela Elizabeth Avila Ortiz, a 33-year-old Honduran citizen; and Allison Melissa Wilkes, 49, of Trinidad and Tobago.
Prosecutors allege all three falsely represented themselves to be citizens, registered to vote, and cast ballots in federal elections held in 2024.
“American citizenship is a precious inheritance and the right to vote is one of the most important and solemn trusts of citizenship,” Boucek stated. “Tennesseans need to know that those who vote illegally will be prosecuted to protect the integrity of our federal elections.”
The office of Francis Hamilton, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, announced two more complaints on Friday.
These complaints targeted Mark Adwar Odisho, a 30-year-old Iraqi citizen, and Frederic Jean Rene Sicard, a 50-year-old French national. Both were described as residents of Cleveland, Tennessee.
A third case in East Tennessee was announced separately on Friday, when prosecutors said that a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned an 11-count indictment charging Gregory Allan Porter, also known as Tony Wayne Ortiz, with charges related to passport, Social Security, citizenship, and voting fraud.
According to the grand jury indictment, Porter is a Canadian citizen who illegally entered the United States in 1984 and assumed the Ortiz identity. He is accused of eventually obtaining a birth certificate, Social Security number, Tennessee driver’s license, and United States passports, all without actually being a citizen.
Porter is additionally alleged to have “voted in numerous state, local, and federal elections under his assumed identity.”
The arrests came just days after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed a recent push to investigate cases involving illegal aliens accused of voting, including 18 in neighboring North Carolina.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Voting” by Lorie Shaull. CC BY 4.0.
