West New York woman, 24, charged with voting in 2022 while not a citizen, then hiding it to get citizenship, feds say

A 24-year-old West New York woman who became a naturalized U.S. citizen is charged with voting in two 2022 elections while she was still not a citizen, and then lying about it on her citizenship application, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Lizabeth Almonte Rosa, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic, was charged by criminal complaint with voting by an alien in a federal election and unlawfully procuring citizenship, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer’s office announced. She made her initial appearance Wednesday, Oct. 7, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacey D. Adams in federal court in Newark.

What prosecutors allege

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, as described by the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

• The registration: Prosecutors say Almonte Rosa was not a citizen when she registered to vote, and that her voter registration form falsely certified and attested that she was a U.S. citizen. Only U.S. citizens may register and vote in federal elections.
• The votes: Prosecutors say she voted in person in the June 2022 primary election and the November 2022 general election. At the time, they say, she had entered the country from the Dominican Republic on an IR2 visa and was not a citizen, so she was not allowed to vote in federal elections.
• The citizenship application: After voting, prosecutors say, she applied to become a citizen by filing an application for naturalization, known as an N-400. Applicants must swear under penalty of perjury that the information is complete, true and correct. Prosecutors allege she falsely claimed on the form that she had never registered to vote or voted in any federal election.

What she faces

The voting-by-an-alien count carries a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. The unlawful procurement of citizenship count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Who investigated

Frazer credited special agents of the FBI, under Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy; Homeland Security Investigations, under Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy; and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The case was brought under the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Election Integrity Task Force, a coalition of federal law enforcement partners focused on elections in New Jersey. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin D. Bleiberg of the office’s Criminal Division is prosecuting.

The charges and allegations in the complaint are merely accusations, and Almonte Rosa is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s Office release did not name an attorney for her.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, press release 26-216 (Oct. 7, 2026).

Hudson TV asks: Should voter registration in New Jersey require stronger citizenship checks, or does one case like this not mean the system is broken?
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Featured photo: the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Newark, by ajay_suresh via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0; cropped, with text added by Hudson TV.