Federal agents arrested a 56-year-old Nigerian national in Lynn, Massachusetts, on charges that she unlawfully voted as an alien in two federal elections after falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on her voter registration forms, according to Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin, who cited the Justice Department.
The defendant, Gladys Adaeze Okafor, was taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations and is expected to make her first appearance in federal court in Boston, per the same reporting.
A Green Card — Not a Passport or Naturalization Certificate
According to the Justice Department account relayed by Melugin, Okafor is a lawful permanent resident. She holds a green card. She has never applied for U.S. citizenship.
Under federal law, that status makes her ineligible to vote in federal elections. Prosecutors allege she voted anyway — not once, but twice.
The timeline described by DOJ begins in July 2022, when Okafor registered to vote in Lynn and attested that she was a U.S. citizen. She then cast a ballot in that year’s midterm elections. The following year, in 2023, she submitted a second voter registration form and again swore she was a citizen. She allegedly went on to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
DOJ says Okafor admitted to the 2024 vote during a recorded interview with an HSI agent last week.
The Honor System, and the Fight Over the SAVE Act
What stands out in the charging account is not just the alleged conduct, but the mechanism that allowed it. Federal law already bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The question raised by this case is how the system verifies that bar.
According to the source material, Okafor did not have to produce a passport or a naturalization certificate. She attested to citizenship. Lynn registered her. She voted. Then, in 2023, she attested again — and the same result followed.
That gap is precisely what Republicans have cited in pushing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility legislation, known as the SAVE Act or SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo ID to vote. The House passed a version of the measure this year. In the Senate, the proposal has run into opposition from Democrats and from some Republicans, who have resisted the proof-of-citizenship requirement.
The case against Okafor now moves into the federal court system in Boston, where she is expected to be arraigned. If the DOJ account holds, it would mark one of the more concrete examples cited by supporters of stricter registration requirements: an alleged noncitizen who voted in two consecutive federal election cycles using nothing more than a signed attestation.
The charges have not yet been adjudicated, and Okafor is presumed innocent unless and until she is convicted or enters a plea.
Reporting on the arrest and charges was first published by The Gateway Pundit, based on Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin’s reporting citing the Justice Department.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/homeland-security-investigations-arrests-nigerian-non-citizen-voting/