A Mauritanian unlawful immigrant marked for deportation since 2002 has continued to stay within the US and is a registered Democrat who voted in each election since 2008, authorities declare.
Mahady Sacko, 50, who goes by the nickname “Sacko Scorpion,” was busted final week in Philadelphia for allegedly falsely claiming citizenship to solid a 2024 poll.
He was picked up in a joint operation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI who cost he “falsely represented that he was a US citizen in an effort to vote and register to vote” within the final preidential election, in response to a press launch.
Sacko denied the fees when known as by The Put up, claiming: “All the things is a lie! They’re mendacity about me!” earlier than hanging up. He has but to enter a plea in his case.
As the difficulty of election safety ramps up in Congress with the SAVE act, Sacko’s arrest was considered one of practically a dozen uncovered by The Put up of non-citizens allegedly voting in US elections, typically for many years, with many remaining listed as energetic voters on state rolls, even after their convictions.
“The fact is aliens are voting in American elections,” J. Christian Adams, president of Public Curiosity Authorized Basis, who has spent a long time engaged on election integrity instructed The Put up, noting nobody is sort of positive how widespread the issue is.
There have been about 14 million people who find themselves within the nation legally however who usually are not residents in 2023, in response to the Pew Analysis heart. Whereas they could have work permits and visas, they’ll’t vote.
“It’s approach worse than the left says, however it’s approach higher than some others say,” he added.
Pennsylvania, an important swing state, stands out for disastrous alien voter registration, mentioned Adams. The Keystone State has admitted a glitch in its “motor voter” program, which registers voters on the DMV, inadvertently has allowed roughly 100,000 non-citizens to register to vote, although some state officers dispute this quantity.
One other Pennsylvania voter, Indian citizen Kaushalkumar Patel, 47, of Allentown will stand trial this month for allegedly voting illegally within the 2020 election in Penn.
Patel’s lawyer Philip Steinberg beforehand mentioned he’s ready for extra info from the goverment laying out their case in opposition to Patel, saying in a press release: “Mr. Patel has lived a legislation abiding life in the USA for over 20 years. He works, pays his taxes and is an energetic participant in his neighborhood. He’s additionally the proud father of two younger daughters.”
On March 6, Canadian Denis Bouchard, 70, pleaded responsible to 2 counts of constructing false claims he was a US citizen to vote in 2022 and 2024 elections in North Carolina and faces ten years in jail.
An investigation by The Put up revealed a person by the identical title and age had voted in each election since 2004 and was not registered with a political occasion. That man was faraway from voter rolls in that state after Bouchard’s conviction.
In a single stunning case, Chinese language nationwide Haoxiang Gao, 19, who was a scholar on the College of Michigan, was charged on June 3 final 12 months with illegally voting within the 2024 election, however fled to China earlier than he might face justice.
At arraignment Gao surrendered his Chinese language passport to the decide however then boarded a flight from Detroit to Shanghai utilizing one other passport with a distinct serial quantity, in response to the FBI. Gao stays wished within the US, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with China.
The Put up discovered Gao remains to be registered as an energetic voter in Michigan.
An October 2025 sweep in Arkansas picked up Cecilia Casellanos, 59, a Cuban nationwide and registered Democrat who had a pending order of elimination by immigration enforcement courting again to 1999. Casellanos additionally had three prior felony convictions in New York for Grand Larceny and Tried Forgery, in response to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
She pleaded responsible to perjury and voter fraud on Jan. 13.
In October, Arkansas additionally nabbed Zlata Risley, 50, of Kazakhstan who had registered as a Republican; and Nigerian citizen Chi Baum, 59, of no occasion affiliation. Each have been lawful US residents, however not residents, who illegally voted within the 2024 election, officers mentioned.Risley pleaded responsible and recieved probation. Particulars of Baum’s case weren’t instantly accessible.
In Florida, two Ukrainian ladies — mother Svitlana Demydenko, 53, and daughter Yelyzaveta Demydenko, 22, each registered Democrats — solid ballots within the 2024 common election after coming to the US in 2021 on nonimmigrant visas, in response to the US Legal professional’s Workplace Southern District of Florida.
They have been each arrested final April, they’ve pleaded not responsible and their case is about for trial later in 2026.
Adams mentioned the primary downside is aliens being invited to register to vote, normally by the mail, on the DMV or by way of third-party teams.
“At instances, it’s an natural strategy of aliens getting sucked in unwittingly. Perhaps they’d been whipping down Modelos [beers] at a competition they usually’re doing a little man a favor who’s of their face with a clipboard. Or, they’re on the DMV and get these pop-up home windows asking them to register. They suppose, ‘I should be allowed.’ ”
He added: “I want it have been a conspiracy plot as a result of it will be simpler to bust. That is systemic failure.”
The Put up discovered unlawful voters span the political spectrum. In Upstate New York, Iraqi nationwide Akeel Abdul Jamiel, 45, had registered with the Conservative Social gathering, had written pro-Trump screeds and in 2019 tried to sue then-New York Metropolis mayor Invoice de Blasio over the unfavourable affect of unlawful immigration on his livelihood, claiming the US was “below invasion.”
Jamiel was charged final April with illegally voting within the 2020 election. He has but to enter a plea and will face a 12 months in jail and as much as $100,000 effective if convicted.
Jamaican nationwide Jacqueline Dianne Wallace, 52, who had been within the US illegally for over 15 years, registered on-line from a neighborhood faculty laptop community as a Republican to vote in Florida and solid a poll within the 2024 presidential major, officers declare. Her case is presently pending.
If convicted, she faces 5 years within the clink. Attorneys appointed to symbolize her didn’t reply to The Put up’s request for remark.
The Republican-backed SAVE America Act would mandate proof of US citizenship — equivalent to a passport, delivery certificates, or enhanced driver’s license — to register to vote in federal elections, however it’s presently languishing within the Senate, missing the 60 votes required to beat a Democrat filibuster.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who launched the SAVE Act to the Home, the place it handed, mentioned he agrees with President Trump that passing this invoice needs to be Republicans’ “prime precedence.”
“Individuals need voter ID and the assure that solely residents are voting in our elections. The Home has performed its job, now it’s time for the Senate to indicate as much as work,” he instructed The Put up.
“Senators ought to rise up and defend their positions. If Democrats wish to block protections guaranteeing solely residents vote, they need to have to elucidate that to the American folks,” he added.
Democrats have known as non-citizen voting a “fantasy” and blasted the SAVE Act as “extremist white supremacist agenda” and “Jim Crow 2.0.”
President Trump has escalated stress on the Senate by threatening he’ll refuse to signal every other payments till it’s handed.
Utah Senator Mike Lee, who co-sponsored the SAVE Act within the Senate, instructed The Put up he needs voters to maintain the stress as much as get the invoice handed.
“Each few weeks, we study that, ‘the factor that by no means occurs,’ has occurred once more,” he mentioned referring to unlawful voting. “In tight down-ballot races, even a whole bunch of unlawful votes can swing an election, and each unlawful vote solid is an assault on a respectable vote solid by an actual citizen.”
Ilustrating that time, On Friday, after a recount, Boca Raton, Florida’s new mayor gained by simply 5 votes, flipping the mayorship to Democrat in a Republican stronghold.
“It might shock many Individuals to study that the Supreme Courtroom — wrongly, in my opinion — has interpreted the legislation to forbid states from checking citizenship for voter registration. The SAVE America Act would reverse this case,” Lee added, talking a couple of 2013 resolution that required solely a sworn affirmation of citizenship for voter registration.
Sen. Majority Chief John Thune (R-SD) introduced the Senate will debate the SAVE Act subsequent week however acknowledged they lack the votes to go it.
Polling reveals the SAVE Act is extraordinarily common with voters, getting over 70% assist, with even half of Democrats in favor.
