Illegal immigrant charged with voting in 5 presidential elections in Pennsylvania

50-year-old Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian national who has been residing in Philadelphia, has been charged with fraudulent voting stemming from five presidential elections. According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Sacko “allegedly unlawfully voted in person in the 2024 general election for federal office," and falsely represented that he was a U.S. citizen in order to vote and register to vote.”

Authorities say Sacko entered the US through Miami in 1998. In 2000, he was ordered to be deported from the US. Despite the deportation order, Pennsylvania state voting records show he voted in several elections, including the 2008 general election, 2012 general election, 2016 primary, 2016 general election, 2020 primary, and 2020 general election.

Sacko is a registered Democrat, according to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Sacko voted in person for each of these elections, except for the 2020 primary election, in which he voted by mail. On each occasion, Sacko falsely represented that he was a U.S. citizen," the FBI special agent investigating the case wrote in a criminal complaint.

Sacko was arrested by ICE in January 2008. However, he did not have a current passport from Mauritania, and ICE was unable to obtain one for him, according to the complaint. Because of this, officials could not enforce the immigration judge’s removal order, and Sacko was placed under supervision that required regular reporting to ICE offices. He reportedly checked in with ICE over a dozen times.

Sacko faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.