The Department of Homeland Security is making a bold move against ten naturalized citizens with criminal records, launching legal proceedings to strip them of their citizenship and ultimately deport them from the United States.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced the effort, alleging that each of the ten individuals obtained their citizenship fraudulently. Federal officials claim they concealed prior crimes, used false identities, or deliberately misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process. The cases span a disturbing range of offenses, including child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, Medicare fraud, and identity fraud.
It is worth noting that naturalized citizens cannot ordinarily be stripped of citizenship simply because they commit a crime after becoming a citizen. But federal law does allow the government to pursue denaturalization when citizenship was obtained illegally or through deliberate concealment of material facts. That is the legal hook the government is using here.
As originally reported, Mullin was direct in his reasoning. “When you commit fraud during the naturalization process, you forfeit the right to keep your U.S. citizenship,” he said. “These criminal aliens, comprised of drug traffickers, pedophiles, and fraudsters, lost that right and exploited our immigration system, harming real U.S. citizens.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche backed up the push with equally firm language. “These ten criminal aliens, including child sex abusers, a nearly $900,000 Medicare fraudster, and a cocaine trafficker, lied their way into U.S. citizenship,” Blanche said. He added that each individual lacked the good moral character required by law and pledged the Justice Department would keep pursuing similar cases aggressively under President Donald Trump.
The ten individuals named in the proceedings come from several countries. Cuban national Yoskmaikel Rodriguez Perez, 45, became a citizen in 2019 and was later arrested for alleged health care and wire fraud. Mexican national Ceflo Luviano-Mojica, 60, allegedly failed to disclose prior convictions for grand theft auto and firearms violations before naturalization.
Urbano Vazquez Ortega, a 53-year-old former priest from Mexico, became a citizen in 2017 and was later convicted of sexually assaulting children in Washington, D.C., between 2015 and 2019. Pakistani-born Murtaza Ali, 65, allegedly obtained citizenship under a false identity after being convicted of filing immigration applications under fabricated names.
Peruvian national Jimmy Aguero, 51, naturalized in 2015, was later convicted of eight counts of child sexual abuse. Mexican national Antonio Alcantara-Ruiz, 53, allegedly filed his naturalization application using falsified documents entirely. Omar Cantu-Montalvo, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine after being naturalized in 2005.
Francisco Montano, 59, became a citizen in 1997 and was later convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of indecency with a child. Polish national Marcin Stanislaw Garbacz, 47, faces convictions for wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and child sexual assault. Finally, Martin Garcia Cardiel, 60, carries convictions on nineteen counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
Federal officials are now asking the courts to cancel the citizenship of all ten before immigration authorities move forward with removal proceedings. The cases still must work through the legal system, meaning no citizenship has been formally revoked yet. But the message from DHS and DOJ is clear: the government intends to pursue every available legal avenue to remove those it says gamed the system from the start.