Feds detail 3 more noncitizen voting cases

Federal authorities this week won a guilty plea from an illegal immigrant who cast votes in Michigan, plus announced indictments against two men they accused of voting illegally in New Jersey.

The Michigan case involved Jose Gargenis Vasquez Rosa, from the Dominican Republic, who was living here under the stolen identity of an American citizen living in Puerto Rico.

He obtained a driver’s license under the bogus identity in 2020 and registered to vote at the same time. He then cast a ballot in that November’s election.

“American citizens paid for the right to vote with their blood. This illegal alien lied to get into our country and stole that right. And we won’t let criminals undermine our elections,” said Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., the U.S. attorney in Detroit.

Vasquez Rosa pleaded guilty to illegal voting by an alien, false claim of citizenship and false statement on a passport application. He had attempted to gain a passport under the bogus identity, but was denied.

In New Jersey, authorities said Muhammad Shakeel and Muhammad Muzammal were legal permanent residents, or green card holders, but not yet citizens.

Mr. Shakeel registered to vote in 2018 while he was applying for a New Jersey identification card. He swore at the time that he was a citizen, authorities said, and he went on to cast a mail-in ballot in the 2020 election.

Mr. Muzammal went online to register to vote in 2020, also swearing that he was a citizen, prosecutors said.

He cast a mail-in ballot in 2020 and an in-person vote in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election in 2021.

Both men are also charged with lying about their votes when they applied for citizenship.

That’s often how noncitizen voting cases are flagged, according to experts. One of the standard checks in the process is to determine whether someone has voted despite lacking citizenship.

In this case, both men answered no, the indictment said. That earned them the additional charge.

Under federal law, only citizens are allowed to cast ballots in elections for national office.

The Washington Times has reached out to the lawyer for Mr. Shakeel and Mr. Muzammal for comment.

The cases are part of a Trump administration push to bring charges against noncitizens who cast ballots in American elections.

Armed with new data tools, federal investigators and authorities in some GOP-led states have been scouring their records seeking noncitizens on their voter rolls.