Two legal permanent residents of the United States — an Indian national living in Lake Placid and an Afghan national living in Troy — appeared in federal court in Albany on October 30 on separate complaints charging them with voting by an alien in the 2024 general election, federal prosecutors in New York's Northern District announced.
Source: Sun Community News
Pooja Pawse, 31, of Lake Placid, and Mobin Tora Kheil, 33, of Troy, are each accused of casting a ballot in the 2024 general election while knowing they were not United States citizens. Both are legal permanent residents, commonly known as green-card holders. The complaints are accusations only: neither defendant has been convicted, and both are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
What prosecutors announced
First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Anthony J. Patrone of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Buffalo announced the cases. HSI is investigating, and Assistant United States Attorneys Richard Belliss and Benjamin Loefke are prosecuting the two cases, prosecutors said.
Sarcone said: "These cases once again demonstrate my office's relentless resolve in rooting out and prosecuting illegal voting in all of its forms. I commend HSI for its thorough investigation in these matters."
Patrone said: "Free and fair elections depend on accountability, and violations that threaten their integrity will be investigated. New Yorkers deserve confidence that the systems shaping their communities are secure, transparent, and lawful. Together with our law enforcement partners, HSI will ensure those accused face the judicial process."
The law at the centre of the cases
Under federal law, only United States citizens may vote in federal elections. The federal voting-by-an-alien statute, 18 U.S.C. 611, makes it a crime for a person who is not a citizen to vote in a federal election, with a maximum penalty of one year in prison. A green card — lawful permanent residence — allows a person to live and work in the United States, but it does not by itself confer the right to vote.
Officials did not say whom either defendant voted for in 2024, and the public announcements released so far do not describe how the two cases were detected. The announcements also do not state any further hearing dates; the cases will proceed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, where a complaint must still be tested against the evidence at trial.
Why the timing matters
The court appearances came four days before the November 3 midterm elections, in the middle of a nationwide federal crackdown on alleged noncitizen voting. In late October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced successive rounds of arrests and charges against noncitizens accused of registering or voting illegally, listing dozens of cases from states across the country, and the Justice Department has said it is investigating hundreds of such cases. The New York cases are separate from those ICE announcements: they were brought by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, with HSI as the investigating agency.
For readers holding a green card: permanent residence lets you live and work in America, but it does not make you eligible to vote in a federal election. Only after naturalisation — becoming a United States citizen — does that right attach. Voting before that step can lead to a federal criminal charge and can also put a person's immigration status at risk, which is why election officials urge green-card holders to check their status before registering or casting any ballot.
What this means for New York's diaspora communities
The two towns involved sit far apart on the New York map. Lake Placid is a small resort village in the Adirondack Mountains of Essex County, in northern New York; Troy is a Hudson Valley city in Rensselaer County, just across the river from Albany, the state capital. Both communities are home to immigrant families, including South Asian and Afghan families, and the cases are a reminder that the same federal rule reaches every corner of the state — from the capital region to the Adirondacks.
For the Punjabi and broader South Asian diaspora in New York and New Jersey, the practical lesson is a narrow one, and it is worth stating plainly: registering to vote, or voting, while still a permanent resident — even by mistake, even after receiving a registration form in the mail — is treated by federal prosecutors as a crime, not as a paperwork error. Community organisations and immigration lawyers regularly advise green-card holders who are unsure of their status to confirm it with an official source before signing any voter registration form.
What happens next
Both cases are now in the federal court system. Prosecutors must prove the charges — that each defendant voted in the 2024 general election knowing they were not a citizen — and the defendants will have the opportunity to contest the complaints, including through counsel, at the proceedings ahead. No further dates have been publicly announced, and no outcome should be assumed: a complaint is the start of a case, not its conclusion.