The United States Justice Department under Donald Trump’s administration said it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 12 naturalized Americans who officials accuse of committing crimes that make them eligible for denaturalization, according to ABC News.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that it has filed denaturalization cases against the individuals in courts across the United States.
Naturalized US citizens facing prosecution by the United States Department of Justice are of Bolivia, Colombia, Nigeria, Somalia, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Iran, India and China origins. Some have been convicted of crimes in the United States, others are charged with crimes in their countries of origin, while the remaining individuals are alleged to have committed immigration fraud.
The action represents the latest step in a broader effort by the federal government to strip foreign-born Americans accused of obtaining U.S. citizenship by fraud or misrepresentation, according to the report.
“Individuals involved in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
He added: “The Trump administration is taking steps to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system. Those who willfully conceal their criminal history or misrepresent themselves during the naturalization process will face the full extent of the law.”
Read also | DOJ sues Cloudera for favoring temporary visa workers over US workers
An Indian-American is undergoing denaturalization proceedings in the US
Debashis Ghosh, a 62-year-old Indian-born man who later became a US citizen, is facing proceedings to revoke his citizenship after authorities say he helped orchestrate a $2.5 million investment scam and failed to disclose information to federal officials, according to PTI.
Read also | Who is Neal Katyal, the Indian-American lawyer who argued against Trump’s tariffs?
Ghosh, whose last known address was in Cook County, first entered the United States in the early 1990s on various nonimmigrant visas and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2012. He is one of 12 individuals against whom the United States Department of Justice has filed denaturalization cases in federal district courts. The group faces charges of serious crimes, including providing support to a terrorist organization, committing war crimes and sexually abusing a minor.
The United States Department of Justice alleged that Debashis Ghosh participated in a scheme to defraud investors of US$2.5 million intended to build an aircraft maintenance facility before becoming a US citizen.
According to the department, Ghosh continued the scheme even after obtaining citizenship, allegedly misleading investors about where the funds were kept and how they were secured. During his naturalization application and interview in 2012, he stated that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested.
Read also | Who is Neal Katyal, the Indian-American lawyer who argued against Trump’s tariffs?
The complaint to revoke his citizenship alleges that Ghosh is eligible for denaturalization because he allegedly committed a crime involving moral turpitude while required to demonstrate good moral character, engaged in unlawful conduct that reflected unfavorably on his character, and gave false testimony about the crime.
The Justice Department also alleged that he knowingly withheld this material information during the naturalization process.
According to the National Immigration Forum, citizenship can only be revoked by court order. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will refer cases to the Justice Department for civil or criminal denaturalization if there is “sufficient evidence” that a person may be subject to one of the legal grounds for losing citizenship, the report said.
If a person’s U.S. citizenship is revoked, they revert to the immigration status they had before becoming a citizen, the group said. Those who no longer have legal immigration status can be deported, and in some cases, individuals can face jail time if the revocation is associated with a criminal conviction.
