The Trump administration is launching a new crackdown on naturalized citizens accused of gaming America’s immigration system, moving to strip citizenship from 17 foreign-born criminals ranging from child sex offenders to multimillion-dollar fraudsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Justice Department is expected to announce Monday that it has filed denaturalization actions against a group of naturalized citizens who allegedly lied, concealed serious crimes, or committed fraud while obtaining U.S. citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“U.S. citizenship is a privilege, not a right for people who obtained it through deception,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said<\/a> as the administration unveiled its latest effort to purge what officials describe as bad actors who abused the naturalization process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the most shocking cases is Haitian-born Jean Claude Alfred, 68, who federal officials say was sexually abusing his minor daughter while applying to become an American citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Justice Department, Alfred denied committing any crimes during his citizenship application process despite allegedly abusing his daughter during that same period. He was later convicted by a Florida jury on charges including attempted sexual battery of a child in a familial relationship and lewd assault on a minor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Daily Wire reported<\/a> that another target is Colombian-born Fernando Cristancho, a Roman Catholic priest sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually grooming and abusing a young parishioner between the ages of 11 and 13. Federal officials allege Cristancho concealed his criminal conduct from immigration authorities while seeking naturalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The administration is also seeking to denaturalize Delmas Garcia, a Cuban-born woman convicted in a massive healthcare fraud scheme that prosecutors say generated more than $36 million in false insurance claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Garcia admitted operating dozens of physical therapy clinics in Florida that billed insurers for treatments that were either medically unnecessary or never provided at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also on the list is Andrea Marroquin, the daughter of a notorious Colombian drug trafficker. Prosecutors allege Marroquin concealed a fraudulent marriage and used drug money inherited from her father to carry out a series of illicit real estate transactions in Miami before becoming a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest actions are part of a broader Trump administration push to dramatically expand denaturalization efforts nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, the Justice Department directed federal prosecutors to prioritize cases involving individuals who obtained citizenship through fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of serious criminal activity. The New York Times reported<\/a> that USCIS was subsequently instructed to increase referrals of potential denaturalization cases, with reports indicating the agency was expected to identify between 100 and 200 new cases each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The administration argues the initiative is aimed at restoring integrity to the naturalization system and ensuring citizenship is reserved for immigrants who follow the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system,” Blanche said in a previous announcement unveiling a separate round of denaturalization cases involving terrorism suspects, war criminals, sex offenders, and fraudsters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Critics have accused the administration of vastly expanding a legal tool that historically was used only sparingly. For decades, denaturalization cases averaged roughly a dozen filings annually, but federal officials now say hundreds of potential cases are under review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under federal law, citizenship can be revoked if prosecutors prove it was obtained illegally or through willful misrepresentation of material facts during the naturalization process. The government carries a high burden of proof and must convince a federal court that citizenship was fraudulently secured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the Trump administration, however, the message is straightforward: if someone lied their way into American citizenship, the government intends to take a second look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And for some of the nation’s worst criminals, that second look could mean losing the very citizenship they worked to obtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n