Iraqi national charged with illegally voting as Dems fight election integrity bill

Federal prosecutors are accusing an Iraqi national of intentionally voting in the 2020 presidential election, the latest example of a non-citizen unlawfully participating in federal elections.

Akeel Abdul Jamiel — a 45-year-old Iraqi man who is not a citizen of the United States — knowingly voted on or around Nov. 3, 2020, in the presidential elections held that year in Saratoga County, New York, according to federal court documents. The accusation follows a renewed push by Republican lawmakers to pass legislation that would require individuals to provide proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

Federal law enforcement officials reiterated their commitment to election integrity and vowed to hold those unlawfully voting to account in public statements.

“Election security is and will continue to be one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig Tremaroli said in a prepared statement. “Americans have a right to expect free and fair elections and the FBI is committed to working with our partners to seek justice for anyone trying to interfere with the democratic process.”

Jamiel faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, it’s not immediately clear if federal prosecutors will be able to take custody of the Iraqi man.

Jamiel has not yet been arrested, according to a DOJ statement to the Times Union. In a statement of his own, Jamiel claimed he wasn’t even living in the U.S. any longer and suggested he was the victim of identity fraud.

“Someone probably using my social security [number] and identity to do crimes,” he wrote in an email to the Times Union. “Can you tell me how I voted illegal and for who? If I voted it would be that they sent me a ballot. I have left the United States for years now.”

The DOJ noted that the Department of Government Efficiency — a cost-cutting initiative better known as DOGE — assisted in the investigation into Jamiel.

The charges comes just days after the House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, legislation introduced by Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy that calls on states to obtain proof of citizenship prior to registering an individual for any federal election and require state officials to remove all non-citizens from existing voter rolls. The bill remains incredibly unpopular with the Democratic Party, with just four House Democrats joining their GOP counterparts in voting in favor of the legislation.

Despite the current pushback from Democrats, citizenship verification regulations remain incredibly popular among the American electorate. Numerous examples of non-citizens landing on voting rolls and participating in federal elections have also been uncovered in recent months.

A Chinese national allegedly registered to vote unlawfully and submitted a ballot in the 2024 general election, according to statements made in October by the Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office. Angelica Maria Francisco and Carlos Abreu — from Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, respectively — are both illegal migrants who recently pled guilty to assuming the identities of U.S. citizens and participating in federal elections.

State officials in Alabama, Texas, Virginia and Ohio identified as many as 17,000 non-citizens on state voting rolls and worked to remove them from the books before the 2024 general election. America First Legal, a Washington, D.C.-based organization aligned with the Trump White House, sued Maricopa County, Arizona, in August after the county recorder allegedly failed to purge 35,000 registered voters who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship.

As lawmakers mull tighter voting regulations, federal prosecutors vowed Monday that the investigation into Jamiel will continue on.

“As alleged, Jamiel’s voting in the 2020 election was a callous and illegal act,” U.S. Attorney John Sarcone said in a statement. “We will continue to investigate and prosecute illegal schemes aimed at corrupting the election process.”

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