17 Naturalized US Citizens Accused of Concealing Criminal Histories in Denaturalization Complaints

The Justice Department has filed complaints seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of 17 naturalized Americans, alleging they concealed prior criminal convictions or accusations when they applied for citizenship. According to the department, the cases represent the largest single effort to employ its denaturalization authority in recent years.

Between 1990 and 2017, the department filed an average of 11 such complaints per year. Federal law permits revocation of citizenship obtained through concealment of material facts or criminal conduct on immigration applications. The complaints include individuals accused or convicted of sex offenses, immigration fraud, healthcare fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and other offenses.

Not all of the 17 individuals have been convicted of the underlying charges they are alleged to have concealed.

One of the individuals is Fernando Cristancho, a Colombian national and ordained Roman Catholic priest who entered the United States as a religious worker. The Justice Department said he used his position to sexually abuse minors and admitted to grooming and abusing a parishioner between the ages of 11 and 13.

He pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement and received a 22-year prison sentence.

The remaining individuals include a Haitian immigrant accused of sexually abusing his daughter, a Yugoslavian man convicted of sexually abusing a child under 15, a Mexican immigrant convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors, and a Filipino man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime.

The group also includes an Indian immigrant accused of filing fraudulent H-1B visa petitions, the daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker accused of money laundering, a Jamaican man convicted of wire fraud, and a Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding a tribal casino.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said American citizenship is a privilege that must be earned honestly. He added that the department will not stand idly by while Americans are harmed by criminals who exploited the immigration system. Administration officials have been increasing denaturalization cases as part of a broader effort targeting illegal immigration.

The denaturalization process is lengthy and has rarely been used.