Fox News' Eric Shawn reports on New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill announcing the removal of non-citizens from voter rolls following a software glitch under former Gov. Phil Murphy. Shawn details how a Motor Vehicle Commission error registered approximately 6,600 non-citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, resulting in fewer than 400 individuals casting ballots in municipal, state and federal elections.
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Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal is facing scrutiny after new records showed an illegal immigrant whose release from ICE custody he championed was registered to vote in Connecticut.
"Cecunjanin has made a mockery of our immigration laws on several occasions for more than two decades," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital of the illegal immigrant on Wednesday.
Records obtained through a public-records request by the West Hartford Republican Town Committee show Seyo Cecunjanin was registered to vote through the Connecticut DMV in 2018. The committee posted the records on X.
A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital the Biden administration released the Montenegrin national back into the United States after he returned from Serbia in 2024—even though he had been under a final deportation order since 1997.
A voting booth as a voter casts their ballot at a polling location inside Echo Park Branch Library during a primary election in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. ( )
Cecunjanin first entered the U.S. illegally in 1997 using a fraudulent Dutch passport and was issued a final order of removal later that year. Despite that order remaining in effect for more than 25 years, he departed for Serbia in July 2024, returned about two weeks later, and was released back into the U.S. under the Biden administration before his June 20 arrest.
Blumenthal and other Connecticut Democratic officials pushed for Cecunjanin's release last month, holding a press conference and later touting his release, crediting their letters and public advocacy.
"His courage and faith are a lesson to all of us on this 250th national birthday. I look forward to welcoming him home. ICE seizing and detaining him was cruel and unconscionable. He was never a flight risk, or a danger to anyone," Blumenthal said in a July 3 statement celebrating the restaurant owner's release.
"I’ll support his efforts to gain permanent legal status and more. Welcome home, Seyo," he added.
Cindy Wolfe Boynton, communications director for the Connecticut secretary of the state’s office, told Fox News Digital that Cecunjanin never voted.
"Our records show that he registered to vote through the DMV in 2018. He was marked as an inactive voter in January 2023 after failing to respond to a routine National Change-of-Address canvass asking him to confirm his name and address," said Boynton. "An inactive voter remains on the voter rolls but cannot vote until they confirm or update their registration information, as required by state and federal law."
Federal agents are seen walking in uniform. A report from The New York Times said the Trump administration has lost or abandoned hundreds of cases in which it accused anti-ICE protesters and migrants of assaulting federal immigration agents. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Critics quickly took to X to highlight the revelation, renewing scrutiny over Democrats' handling of election security.
"It happened again," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. wrote on X.
"HOLY CRAP The illegal alien who Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and other Democrat officials rallied to support after he was detained by ICE… IS REGISTERED TO VOTE IN CT despite not being a citizen!" popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok posted.
"WHOA: Illegal Alien That Democrats Defended from Deportation Is Registered Voter. Senator Blumenthal and Connecticut Democrats tried to protect him," posted conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) speaks to press outside the Senate Chambers after voting in the U.S. Capitol on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Senate will take up budget negotiations after the House passed the spending bill on Feb. 25, 2025. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the West Hartford Republican Town Committee and Blumenthal's office for comment.
Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.