US Names Naturalised Citizens Facing Citizenship Revocation and Deportation
- The US Department of Justice filed denaturalisation complaints against 10 naturalised citizens over the past 30 days for fraud and drug offences
- The ten individuals include a Medicare fraudster who billed over $886,000, illicit substance traffickers, and multiple convicted child abusers
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said each person lied their way into US citizenship by hiding serious crimes during the naturalisation process
The United States Department of Justice has launched court proceedings to strip citizenship from 10 naturalised Americans, accusing each of them of concealing serious criminal histories to obtain US nationality fraudulently.
The complaints were filed across multiple federal district courts over the past 30 days, targeting individuals convicted of offences including child sexual abuse, Medicare fraud,, and identity fraud.
Source: Getty Images
The Justice Department described the push as the Trump administration's largest denaturalisation effort in the country's history.
Acting AG Blanche on the denaturalisation drive
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was unequivocal about the administration's position, stating that the individuals named "lied their way into U.S. citizenship" and deliberately concealed conduct that disqualified them from naturalisation under the law's good moral character requirement.
"Under President Trump's leadership, this Department of Justice will continue to aggressively pursue denaturalization to restore integrity to America's naturalization process," Blanche said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added: "When you commit fraud during the naturalization process, you forfeit the right to keep your U.S. citizenship."
Who are the 10 individuals named?
Among those identified is Yoskmaikel Rodriguez Perez, 45, a Cuban national who submitted more than $886,000 in fraudulent Medicare claims before obtaining citizenship in 2018 and was subsequently convicted of healthcare and wire fraud conspiracy.
Urbano Vazquez Ortega, 53, a Mexican national who served as a priest in Washington D.C., was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019 following convictions for multiple counts of second-degree child sexual abuse committed between 2015 and 2017.
Martin Garcia Cardiel, 60, also Mexican, received consecutive sentences of 15 years to life after being convicted in 2022 on 19 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. His two victims were neighbours aged seven and eight when the abuse began in 2007.
Omar Cantu-Montalvo, 44, pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of illicit substance. The conspiracy started in April 2005, just months before he applied for naturalisation, yet he declared on his application that he had never committed any crime.
Marcin Stanislaw Garbacz, 47, a former Roman Catholic priest from Poland, stole roughly $259,696 from three church parishes and secretly filmed a 17-year-old in the shower during a church trip. He was convicted of wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor abroad.
Murtaza Ali, 65, from Pakistan, used three separate identities to file multiple immigration benefit applications before naturalising in 2009 under the alias "Muhammad Iqbal." Fingerprint analysis confirmed all the applications belonged to the same individual.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate warned that the administration has "only scratched the surface," signalling that further denaturalisation complaints are on the way. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, naturalised citizenship can be cancelled if it was obtained through the concealment of material facts or by other unlawful means.
Below is the X post from the Department of Justice.
US to deport 355 West Africans
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the US had announced that 355 people from West Africa were set to be deported from the country.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released the names and photos of those facing deportation.
The official list shared by the DHS on X shows that Nigeria tops the list of countries, with 110 citizens set for deportation.
Source: YEN.com.gh
