The U.S. Justice Department says an illegal immigrant has reached an agreement to plead guilty to charges related to the identity theft of a U.S. citizen. vote in multiple elections and fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport.
Angelica Maria Francisco, a 42-year-old undocumented immigrant who most recently resided in Russellville, Alabama, faces a nine-count federal criminal charge of falsely claiming citizenship in connection with voting, making false statements on a U.S. passport application, using a U.S. passport obtained through false statements and aggravated identity theft.
A plea agreement was also filed, indicating that Francisco agreed to plead guilty to all nine counts, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim F. Escalona and Resident Agent in Charge Joseph R. Wysowaty of the Atlanta Resident Office of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) announced Thursday.
Francisco is accused of impersonating a U.S. citizen around 2011. Prosecutors say she used the fake identity to obtain a U.S. passport in 2011. She then allegedly used the passport to travel to and from her native Guatemala in 2012, 2015 and 2018. Using the same identity, she also allegedly registered to vote in Alabama in 2016, before voting in the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections.
A U.S. passport with a State Department logo visible, Lafayette, California, May 23, 2023. (Collection Smith/Gado/Getty Images)
In 2021, Francisco allegedly used the same false identity to apply for and receive a renewed passport, which she used to travel to and from Guatemala in 2022.
The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service investigated the case, with assistance from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Metro East Crime Center and the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office.
“I have been very clear that one of the top priorities of this Office is to ensure that only eligible American citizens vote in Alabama elections,” Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in a statement. “I want to thank the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama for their diligent efforts in investigating and charging this individual. We will continue to assist law enforcement in every way possible as they pursue individuals who illegally vote in Alabama elections to the fullest extent of the law.”
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen testifies during a hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee on March 12, 2024, in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on the administration of the upcoming election. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Allen, a Republican, has made election integrity a top priority this cycle and previously sounded the alarm to Fox News Digital about how state agencies that receive federal funding are held to account under the Executive Order 14019 to send voter registration information to anyone who comes into contact with those agencies without any citizenship verification. President Biden signed the order in 2021 to “promote access to voting,” but Republicans argue that its broad interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 essentially mobilizes the federal government’s machinery to become voter registration agencies.
Signs directing voters how to vote are seen outside a polling place on March 5, 2024, in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Super Tuesday. (Elie Nouvelage/Getty Images)
At the Republican National Convention in July, Allen told Fox News Digital that he also spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson about a bill called Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Actwhich seeks to require states to obtain proof of citizenship – in person – when registering a person to vote and to require states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
Last month, prominent conservative Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, pushed to have the SAVE Act annexed to an extension of the spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.
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“Deferring new government spending until 2025, when we have a new president, and enacting the SAVE Act will allow House Republicans to avoid a lame-duck Biden-Harris omnibus and secure our elections at the same time,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said in a statement Friday. “The Senate can either ensure that only eligible American citizens vote in our elections or shut down the government. To me, it’s a no-brainer.”
