The US Department of Justice has initiated proceedings to revoke the citizenship of 17 naturalised Americans, including an Indian-origin immigrant convicted of visa fraud, as part of a broader crackdown on individuals accused of obtaining citizenship unlawfully or concealing serious criminal conduct.
Among those facing denaturalisation is 50-year-old Neeraj Sharma, owner of New Jersey-based staffing company Magnavision LLC, who was convicted of fraud and misuse of visas linked to a scheme involving fraudulent H-1B visa applications.
According to the Department of Justice, Sharma allegedly signed and filed 11 fraudulent H-1B visa petitions, falsely claiming that the beneficiaries would be employed by a global financial institution. The supporting documents submitted with the petitions allegedly contained forged signatures of executives from the institution.
Federal authorities said Sharma applied for naturalisation in 2017 and falsely testified under oath during his citizenship interview about his prior criminal conduct. He became a US citizen in December 2017 but was later convicted for offences committed between April 2015 and April 2017.
“American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly. If you come here, break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in a statement.
The Justice Department said the denaturalisation actions are being pursued under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the government to revoke citizenship if it was illegally procured or obtained through concealment of material facts or willful misrepresentation.
“When criminal aliens exploit the naturalisation process by breaking the law, there are consequences. Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters. Gaining US citizenship is a privilege and under the steadfast leadership of President Trump, this Department of Justice maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“We will not turn a blind eye to those who unlawfully obtained US citizenship,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said.
The latest batch of denaturalisation cases includes several immigrants accused or convicted of serious crimes. Among them are a Haitian immigrant accused of sexually abusing his daughter, a man from the former Yugoslavia convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 15, an immigrant from Mexico convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors, a former Catholic priest born in Colombia accused of child sexual abuse, and a Filipino-born man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime.
Others facing citizenship revocation include the daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker accused of money laundering, a Jamaican-born man convicted of wire fraud, and a Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding a tribal casino.
The Justice Department said the cases reflect its intensified efforts to identify and prosecute individuals who allegedly secured US citizenship through fraud, deception or concealment of criminal activities.