An illegal immigration who lived in the U.S. under a fraudulent identity for nearly four decades managed to vote in two presidential elections as well as collect Social Security benefits, federal prosecutors said.
Jorge Echeverri, 73, a citizen of Colombia, was deported three times in the 1970s and 1980s but managed to sneak back in some time before 1987 and has apparently been living here ever since, using a Puerto Rican birth certificate under the name of Pedro Torres Rivera, according to the indictment handed up last week by a federal grand jury in Maryland.
He applied for a passport in 1987, then in 2010 applied to collect Social Security retirement benefits, all under the Rivera identity. As an illegal immigrant, he would not have been eligible for either.
He also cast ballots under the Rivera name in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, the indictment said, charging him with making false statements.
Mr. Echeverri was ordered detained by a magistrate judge.
The Washington Times has reached out to the federal public defender’s office for comment.
Prosecutors indicated that Social Security cut off the benefits in January, after nearly 15 years of payments. The indictment didn’t reveal how much Mr. Echeverri is alleged to have collected during that time.
The illegal voting accusation is particularly striking.
Some experts say that illegal voting by noncitizens is so rare as to be almost nonexistent. Others say the problem is persistent but difficult to detect because nobody is really looking for it.
It’s particularly hard to find in cases like Mr. Echeverri’s where someone is alleged to be living under the assumed identity of a U.S. citizen, who would have the right to vote.
Federal prosecutors in Florida brought charges in February against an illegal immigrant they said voted in the 2020 and 2022 elections and an illegal immigrant who cast ballots in 2016 and 2020 was sentenced to five years in prison in January.
