Federal immigration officers arrested a Bahamian national with a lengthy criminal record after authorities determined that he illegally voted in Georgia’s 2020 election. Anthony Tyrone Higgs was taken into custody in Decatur, Georgia, on September 3rd by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations. HSI’s Atlanta office confirmed in August that Higgs had cast an illegal ballot in the presidential contest. He remains in immigration custody while the Department of Homeland Security moves to remove him from the United States.
The arrest puts another confirmed noncitizen vote under scrutiny in one of the closest states of the 2020 presidential race. Joe Biden’s certified margin over President Donald Trump in Georgia was 11,779 votes, or roughly 0.24% of nearly five million ballots cast. The single vote attributed to Higgs did not determine that result, but DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin argued that every unlawful ballot cancels out a lawful vote. Georgia has remained central to the national fight over voter eligibility and election safeguards ever since.
Higgs was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in October 1976, according to DHS information cited in the report. His status didn’t make him a United States citizen or permit him to vote in a federal election. DHS has placed him in removal proceedings based on his criminal record, a process intended to strip him of his permanent-resident status and deport him. The report didn’t state that prosecutors had filed a new criminal charge against Higgs for the 2020 vote.
The Daily Caller reported that ICE and HSI Atlanta made the arrest after the voting finding was confirmed the previous month. Higgs remains in the custody of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations as the immigration case proceeds. The documents obtained by the outlet don’t identify which presidential candidate received his vote. They also don’t say how Higgs was registered or how officials discovered the illegal ballot.
Federal officials said the voting violation was only the latest entry in a long record. Higgs has convictions for two counts of grand larceny, armed robbery with a deadly weapon, and two counts of possessing a weapon during a violent crime. His record also includes convictions for assault on a police officer, criminal domestic violence, and resisting arrest. DHS cited those crimes as the basis for seeking to revoke his lawful permanent-resident status.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin responded sharply when asked about the case. “This criminal alien from the Bahamas has a rap sheet for multiple violent crimes, including armed robbery, domestic violence, and assault on a police officer,” Mullin told the Daily Caller. His statement connected the immigration action to both Higgs’ convictions and his participation in the 2020 election. The report didn’t identify when a final removal decision might be made.
Mullin turned to the illegal ballot itself, saying, “On top of all of that, he illegally voted in the 2020 election. If even one non-citizen votes in our elections, it cancels out the vote of an American citizen,” he said. “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again.”
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The Higgs arrest follows a broader DHS push to use immigration enforcement against noncitizens who cast ballots in American elections. In June, the department directed ICE to pursue stricter consequences, including deportation, for illegal voting by noncitizens. Mullin followed in July by sending letters to several secretaries of state concerning noncitizens found on voter rolls. Those actions have made removal proceedings part of the government’s election-integrity campaign ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Federal officers made a similar arrest two days before Higgs was taken into custody. ICE and HSI officers arrested Peruvian national Mariana Alexandra Dewey on September 1st over allegations that she falsely represented herself as a United States citizen and voted in Kansas during the 2024 general election. Unlike the publicly reported details in Higgs’ case, the Kansas matter included identified criminal counts. Dewey was charged with making a false claim of citizenship, falsely claiming citizenship to vote, fraudulent election conduct, and voting as an alien in a federal election.