DOJ Launches Massive Effort to Strip Citizenship from Foreign Criminals The Department of Justice is seeking the denaturalization of 40 individuals who allegedly used fraud and deception to obtain U.S. citizenship while concealing criminal histories. The United States Department of Justice has initiated a significant legal campaign to revoke the citizenship of individuals who obtained it through fraudulent means. As part of a broader denaturalization initiative championed by the administration, the DOJ is currently seeking to strip naturalized American citizenship from 40 foreign criminals. This represents the largest single-period filing of its kind in the history of the department, signaling a rigorous shift toward ensuring that the naturalization process is not compromised by deceit. The core of these legal actions rests on the principle that citizenship is a privilege granted to those who meet specific legal requirements, including the demonstration of good moral character and absolute honesty during the application process.Among the individuals targeted in these filings are people who concealed severe criminal records to deceive immigration authorities. For instance, federal prosecutors are pursuing the denaturalization of Yusmary Shirley Duran Mejia, a 47-year-old resident of Florida originally from Colombia. It is alleged that Mejia lied during her application process by failing to disclose a prior conviction for money laundering. Similarly, the DOJ is taking action against 50-year-old Iain Lumsden from the United Kingdom, who currently resides in Colorado.Lumsden is accused of failing to disclose a conviction related to child pornography when he applied for his U.S. citizenship. These cases underscore the government's commitment to removing individuals whose presence as citizens was predicated on fundamental lies. Other cases involve more complex schemes of identity theft and long-term fraud. In the Southern District of Texas, the government brought a denaturalization action against Gume Roberto Garza, also known as Gumercindo Garza Perez.Garza is accused of misrepresenting his identity and hiding a criminal history to secure his citizenship. Before his naturalization, he entered the country illegally and utilized a Texas driver's license that belonged to a U.S. citizen named Gerardo Vazquez. While posing as Vazquez, Garza was arrested multiple times for drug-related offenses. Despite these incidents, he concealed his use of an alias and his criminal record during his 2010 application.By 2013, he had pleaded guilty to making false statements under oath, leading the government to move for the revocation of his illegally obtained status. The DOJ is also targeting those who committed violent or sexual crimes while pursuing or holding citizenship. In California, the government is seeking to denaturalize Ramiro Escot Esparza. While Escot Esparza became a permanent resident in 1990, he allegedly concealed multiple acts of sexual misconduct against a minor during his 2008 application and 2009 interview.Shortly after obtaining citizenship, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. In Georgia, a similar case was filed against Javier Marrero-Pando. Marrero-Pando failed to disclose that he had committed aggravated sodomy against a man with special needs. Despite being sentenced to life in prison with a portion suspended, he falsely claimed during his October 2020 naturalization interview that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested.Furthermore, the government is addressing sophisticated efforts to evade deportation. In Virginia, the DOJ filed a complaint against Ahmad Bahar Khattak, who utilized multiple aliases such as Bahar Ahmad and Said Umar Khan. The complaint alleges that Khattak engaged in a multi-decade fraudulent scheme using dual identities to bypass deportation proceedings and illegally secure immigration benefits. The government asserts that his naturalization was illegally procured due to pre-existing removal proceedings and a failure to maintain lawful permanent resident status.Brett A. Shumate of the Department of Justice emphasized the necessity of these actions, stating that every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship. He noted that the administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalization effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in the process.The overarching message from the DOJ is that the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalization process, and those who defraud the system will face the loss of their citizenship and potential further legal consequences.