‘When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences,’ the acting attorney general said.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on June 8 announced it has asked courts across the country to strip more than a dozen people who have pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes of their U.S. citizenship.
Filings in federal court requested judges revoke the naturalization of 17 individuals, including Jean Claude Alfred, a 68-year-old Haitian native who became a U.S. citizen in 1994.
Federal officials said that Alfred, who does not have a lawyer listed on the court docket, was convicted in 1996 of attempting sexual battery and indecent assault on his daughter, for conduct that began three years prior.
Alfred “concealed his crime throughout the naturalization process,” DOJ lawyers told the federal court in Miami.
Another man, 39-year-old Armando Mendoza of Mexico, received sexually explicit images of minors as early as 2009 and pleaded guilty in 2013. Mendoza failed to disclose the crime in his 2011 citizenship application and interview, which means his citizenship should be revoked, officials said in a separate filing in federal court in California.
Mendoza has not hired an attorney, according to the court docket.
“When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that “American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly.”
He said, “If you come here break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
