The United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit has sentenced Margarita Del Pilar Fitzpatrick to leave the United States in violation of the 18 U.S.C. §611 and 8 U.S.C. §1227(a)(6) while denying review of petition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is due to Fitzpatrick's unlawful votes on two elections for federal officials.
According to Cornell University Law School, 18 U.S.C. §611 states that Aliens are forbidden to vote in federal elections while according to the 8 U.S.C. §1227(a)(6) orders for the removal of aliens who vote in violation of either state or federal law. Fitzpatrick, while having stayed in the United States for three years but without a US citizenship is in clear violation of the law.
According to United States Courts, Fitzpatrick is a citizen of Peru and had lived in the US for three years to study English as well as earn a degree. Her case starts when she applied for a driver's license in Illinois.
She says that while filling out the forms for the license, she checked a box that indicates that she is a US citizen which in reality is not. She then comes across a box that would lead to registration as a voter and inquired the clerk whether Fitzpatrick is required to register. The clerk replied "It's up to you"which at that time was in accordance to the Illinois'order to clerical officials of the refusal to give advice and a Federal Law that forbids state officials to say anything to discourage driver's license applicants from registering to vote
Then in 2006, Fitzpatrick proceeded to vote twice in the election for federal officials. While Fitzpatrick does admit to voting, she argues that she had official approval to act as she did.
Her arguments do not hold for two reasons. First she did not make accurate disclosures when applying for the license as she checked the box claiming that she is a US citizen. Simply saying that she didn't what she signed up for is an invalid excuse as she is literate in English.
Second, no one gave Fitzpatrick the authority to vote as the clerk's reply of "It's up to you" implies that Fitzpatrick's actions are her own. Futhermore even if the clerk assured Fitzpatrick, it is still different from giving her the authority to vote.
The court said that Fitzpatrick is the type of person that the Attorney General and Department of Homeland Security wanted to remove. And with the decision solely entrusted to executive officials, the court has no option but to deny the petitions for review from the BIA.
