A Bahamian national living in Georgia cast an illegal ballot in the 2020 presidential race.
Anthony Tyrone Higgs, a lawful permanent resident with a long criminal history, was arrested in Decatur, Georgia, on September 3 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations. HSI’s Atlanta field office had confirmed in August that Higgs voted illegally in the 2020 presidential election. He is currently in ICE custody while the Department of Homeland Security pursues his removal from the country.
The arrest draws renewed attention to noncitizen voting in one of the most contested states of that election. Joe Biden’s certified margin over Donald Trump in Georgia was 11,779 votes, roughly 0.24 percent of nearly five million ballots cast statewide. Higgs’s single vote did not decide that outcome. But DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has argued that every unlawful ballot effectively cancels one legitimate vote. Georgia has stayed at the center of the national debate over voter eligibility and election security ever since.
Special offer for our readers:
Stop Throwing Out Money: Pay No Interest Until 2027
According to the original report, Higgs entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in October 1976. That status did not grant him U.S. citizenship or the right to vote in federal elections. DHS has placed him in removal proceedings, a legal process aimed at stripping his permanent-resident status and deporting him. No new criminal charge tied to the 2020 vote was mentioned in the documents.
The records do not identify which presidential candidate received his vote. They also do not explain how Higgs was registered to vote or how investigators discovered the illegal ballot.
Federal authorities described the voting violation as the most recent item in an already substantial criminal record. Higgs carries 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 that criminal history as the foundation for seeking to revoke his permanent-resident status and pursue deportation.
Higgs remains in the custody of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations as the immigration case moves forward. Georgia, already the focal point of years of post-2020 legal battles, now adds another data point to the ongoing national argument over who is actually casting ballots in American elections and how well existing safeguards catch those who should not be voting.
