DHS Investigating Former Undocumented Boston Lawmaker Convicted On Corruption Charges

The Department of Homeland Security is not playing games in Massachusetts.

The Department of Homeland Security has announced they have launched a probe into former Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson.

The DOJ reported over the weekend that Anderson was convicted on corruption charges after receiving $7,000 from kickbacks while in office.

Now the DHS is investigating her immigration status.

Fox News provided more details on the probe:

With the Trump administration zeroing in on Boston’s sanctuary stance toward illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it is reviewing the status of an African-born former councilwoman who was sentenced Friday in a corruption probe.

Cape Verde-born Boston Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty earlier this year in relation to what the Boston Herald described as a kickback scheme she carried out in a City Hall bathroom.

Libs of TikTok, a social media account known for criticizing liberal hypocrisy and run by activist Chaya Raichik, highlighted Anderson last week, and said that a source had told her DHS was investigating Anderson.

“We are looking into this, yes,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital when asked about the claim on Monday.

After she was elected in 2021, Anderson spoke to WGBH about her Muslim and African background, mentioning that she had “been undocumented.”

“We always say the ‘ummah’ which means ‘community’. It doesn’t necessarily exclude non-Muslims.”

“As the person that I am – Muslim, Cape Verdean, someone who’s been undocumented, an African immigrant and now African American – I think that all of that is what makes me a very dynamic Black woman,” Anderson said at the time.

Cape Verde, an archipelago a few hundred miles offshore of Senegal, is home to about 600,000 people and best known in the U.S. as the area from which many North Atlantic hurricanes develop.

Tania Fernandes Anderson rose to the ranks of Boston City Councilwoman despite a long history of crime:

Came to the U.S. illegally from Cape Verde at age 10.

At 13, she committed fraud by buying a fake Social Security card to work illegally while also being too young to legally… pic.twitter.com/ZAe3D01ntz

— Rebecca (@RebeccaMtn) September 8, 2025

Tania Fernandes Anderson rose to the ranks of Boston City Councilwoman despite a long history of crime:

Came to the U.S. illegally from Cape Verde at age 10.

At 13, she committed fraud by buying a fake Social Security card to work illegally while also being too young to legally work.

In 2009, married Tanzerious Anderson, a man serving life without parole for first-degree murder.

Became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2019 after living in the country illegally for three decades and despite her criminal past.

Elected Boston’s first Muslim woman city councilor in 2021.

In 2025, convicted of federal corruption (wire fraud & theft in a kickback scheme). Sentenced to prison and resigned.

If there was ever a person who should be stripped of their citizenship and deported back to their home country, it’s Tania Fernandes Anderson.

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BREAKING: A source at DHS tells me they’re looking into former Democrat Boston Councilmember Tania Fernandes Anderson’s current legal status

DEPORT DEPORT DEPORT https://t.co/sITrgf7cPl

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 7, 2025

The DOJ provided a full report on her conviction:

Former Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for public corruption charges after receiving a $7,000 kickback from a staff member’s city funded bonus. Fernandes Anderson pocketed the cash from a staffer in a Boston City Hall bathroom.

Tania Fernandes Anderson, 46, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Fernandes Anderson was also ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution. In May 2025, Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. Fernandes Anderson was indicted in December 2024.

“Tania Fernandes Anderson was elected to serve her constituents but instead, she deliberately used her elected position as a Boston City Councilor to serve herself,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. “From Boston’s City Hall to the Massachusetts State House, to local and state public officials, this office will continue to aggressively root out and expose public corruption. Massachusetts taxpayers deserve an honest government and accountability. As federal prosecutors we have no fear nor favor, and there will be no blind eye or separate justice system for the powerful. The rule of law does not make exceptions for anyone, including someone like Tania Fernandes Anderson.”

“Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson let the power she wielded go to her head and routinely put herself over her constituents who trusted her to act on their behalf and for their benefit. Today’s sentence holds her accountable for flagrantly embracing a culture of fraud and deceit and brazenly pocketing taxpayer money inside a City Hall bathroom to feather her nest,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Make no mistake, the FBI will continue to investigate and bring to justice unscrupulous public officials. We simply can’t permit such corruption to go unchecked.”

“The sentencing of Tania Fernandes Anderson demonstrates that no one is above the law,” said Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office. “Fernandes Anderson used her position as a trusted elected official to steal from the City of Boston and the American taxpayers. IRS-CI is committed to identifying, investigating, and prosecuting all instances of public corruption, both in the Commonwealth and across New England.”

In or about 2022, Fernandes Anderson hired two members of her immediate family as salaried employees of her City Council staff, which was in violation of Massachusetts state conflict of interest law. As a result, Fernandes Anderson was required to terminate their salaried employment in or about August 2022. In May 2023, the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission notified Fernandes Anderson that it would be seeking a $5,000 civil penalty payment from her as a result of this violation.

In or about November 2022, Fernandes Anderson emailed a City of Boston employee regarding the hiring of Staff Member A – a relative of Fernandes Anderson who was not an immediate family member – as a salaried employee. In her email to the City of Boston employee, Fernandes Anderson falsely represented that she and Staff Member A were not related.

From in or about early to mid-2023, Fernandes Anderson was facing personal financial difficulty, which included the outstanding $5,000 civil penalty payment to the Ethics Commission. In or about early May 2023, Fernandes Anderson told Staff Member A that she would give them extra pay in the form of a large bonus, but that Staff Member A would have to give a portion of the bonus back to Fernandes Anderson. Staff Member A later agreed to the arrangement with Fernandes Anderson.

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