The Department of Justice announced Friday nearly two dozen foreign nationals have been charged for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election.
From DOJ:
A federal grand jury in Wilmington, North Carolina returned Indictments charging the following foreign nationals with false claim of United States citizenship in order to register to vote, and voting by an alien:
-Jose Cruz Solano-Rodriguez, age 41, of Mexico;
-Guadalupe Espinosa-Pena, age 63, of Mexico;
-Sarah Emilia Silverio-Polanco, age 35, of the Dominican Republic;
-Elizabeth Nene Amachaghi, age 44, of Nigeria;
-Maria Rufina Castillo-Boswell, age 31, of Philippines;
-Dora Maybe Damatta-Rodriguez, age 64, of Panama;
-Elvis David Fullerton, age 54, of Grenada;
-Olive Agatha Martin, age 71, of Guyana; and
-Kaoru Sauls, age 54, of Japan.
Separately, criminal charges of voting by an alien were filed against the following foreign nationals:
-Jose Jaime Ramiro-Torres, age 52, of El Salvador;
-Juan Francisco Landeros-Mireles, age 64, of Mexico;
-Alessandro Cannizzaro, age 46, of Italy;
-Dieudonne Soifils, age 71, of Haiti;
-Hyo Suk George, age 69, of Korea;
-Merius Jean, age 54, of Haiti;
-Rosemarie Angelika Harris, age 60, of Germany; and
-Daniel Tadeusz Romanowski, age 39, of Poland.
The charges for all defendants were returned by a Grand Jury. Here's what they're up against:
If convicted of false claim of United States citizenship in order to register to vote, and voting by an alien, Amachaghi, Castillo-Boswell, Damatta-Rodriguez, Espinosa-Pena, Fullerton, Martin, Sauls, Silverio-Polanco, and Solano-Rodriguez, would face maximum penalties of six years’ imprisonment, a $350,000 fine, and a term of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
If convicted of voting by an alien, Cannizzaro, George, Harris, Jean, Landeros-Mireles, Ramiro-Torres, Romanowski, and Soifils would face maximum penalties of twelve months imprisonment, a $100,000 fine, and a term of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
If convicted of fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, and voting by an alien, Franco-Rodriguez would face maximum penalties of twenty-six years imprisonment, a $350,000 fine, and a term of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
If convicted of aiding and abetting in falsely claiming United States citizenship in order to register to vote, Denslo Allen Paige would face a maximum imprisonment term of five years, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
Voter identification is required in North Carolina. The Department of Justice says the investigation into vote fraud is ongoing.