Illegal immigrant learns fate after using stolen identity to vote in US elections for decades

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo-Grajales, a criminal illegal alien from Colombia, was recently sentenced to three years behind bars for identity theft and lying about his citizenship status — a falsification that, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), he used to participate in U.S. elections over a period spanning roughly 20 years.

“Because of his fraud, he was able to obtain a driver’s license and vote in our elections,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.

“DHS will always fight to protect the integrity of our elections, because election security is national security. Only Americans should be electing American leaders,” he continued.

His Friday sentencing comes as lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have wrestled over whether new legislation is needed to shore up voter verification that demonstrates the lengths some aliens have gone to secure state ID.

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It’s a pattern that Mullin highlighted in a letter to secretaries of state in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania earlier this year.

According to his findings, as many as 190,830 noncitizens registered to vote in California, for instance.

In Jaramillo-Grajales’ case, he first began the scheme by using the name, date of birth and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen to obtain a passport in March 2003. Once he had secured that credential, he used the false information to obtain a Florida driver’s license and register to vote.

He would go on to cast a ballot in the 2020 election and others, according to DHS.

Investigators also explained that he had used the stolen identity for other purposes.

“This criminal illegal alien spent years exploiting a stolen identity of a United States citizen to obtain government documents [and] claim benefits,” Tim Hemker, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said.

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In one instance, Jaramillo-Grajales used his false name in June 2017 to secure lawful permanent residence for his fiancée, who later became his wife.

DHS framed Jaramillo-Grajales’s conviction as a part of a broader effort to crack down on illegal aliens fabricating information to vote or secure U.S. benefits.

The agency noted cases like that of Marian Chariton, an alien from Slovakia, who had illegally voted in the 2022 election in New Jersey after falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen. It similarly pointed to Jose Ceballos, an alien from Mexico who pleaded guilty to three counts of disorderly election for falsely claiming to be a citizen in Kansas.

“Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of HSI, along with our federal partners, this criminal is out of our communities and, at the end of his sentence, will be removed from our country,” Mullin said.

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According to the Florida U.S. attorney’s office, Jaramillo-Grajales’ case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.