U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on March 9 that ICE, in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrested Mahady Sacko in Philadelphia on charges of voter fraud after he illegally voted in seven federal elections since 2008.
The case involves Sacko, a Mauritanian national who entered the United States illegally near Miami and received a final removal order upheld in 2002 that was never executed. According to ICE, Sacko falsely certified U.S. citizenship on Pennsylvania voter registration forms and cast ballots in multiple federal elections over nearly two decades.
The Department of Homeland Security detailed the joint ICE and FBI operation resulting in the arrest of Sacko in Philadelphia on charges of voter fraud stemming from his repeated illegal participation in federal elections. Sacko had exhausted all appeals after an immigration judge issued the removal order in 2002, yet remained in the country and registered to vote in Pennsylvania by falsely claiming citizenship. The case underscores longstanding gaps in carrying out removal orders that allowed continued unlawful activity in a key swing state according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Pennsylvania officials previously admitted through internal reviews that approximately 100,000 registered voters on the rolls may potentially be non-citizens or may have been non-citizens at some point due to errors in the motor-voter system at the Department of Motor Vehicles. In Philadelphia alone, one documented review identified hundreds of noncitizens who registered and cast ballots before removal from the rolls, with 168 cases tied directly to the DMV glitch and another 52 from other sources. Such incidents in Pennsylvania demonstrate vulnerabilities in voter list maintenance that affect election integrity for citizens who follow the rules according to Public Interest Legal Foundation.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE America Act, requires proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration and has passed the House of Representatives while facing continued debate in the Senate to close loopholes exploited in cases like the one in Philadelphia. The Heritage Foundation maintains a voter fraud database that has documented dozens of noncitizen voting convictions nationwide since the 1980s, showing that while individual prosecutions occur, systemic verification gaps persist across states. Strengthening citizenship checks through the SAVE Act would protect the voting rights of American citizens from dilution by illegal ballots according to Congress.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as the primary federal agency tasked with identifying, arresting, and removing individuals who violate immigration laws inside the United States, including those engaged in criminal conduct such as voter fraud. The agency partners with federal and local law enforcement to prioritize threats to public safety and national security through targeted operations that enforce existing statutes. ICE continues to focus resources on cases involving long-term fugitives with final removal orders who remain in the country and commit additional offenses according to ICE.
