The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it filed civil actions seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans, including four cases filed in federal courts in Texas.
The complaints, filed between August 21 and October 2, accuse the defendants of illegally obtaining citizenship or concealing material facts during the naturalization process. The cases involve allegations tied to immigration fraud and previously adjudicated crimes including espionage, sexual offenses, voluntary manslaughter, and money laundering, according to the department.
Texas Cases Among Nationwide Filings
One Texas case targets Dibya Bhattarai, 40, a native of Nepal. The Justice Department said it filed the complaint in the Northern District of Texas on September 25. When she applied to naturalize in 2008, she claimed she had not committed any crime for which she had not been arrested, then repeated that claim under oath and naturalized in September 2008. In March 2016, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with immigration documents, a conspiracy the department says began in June 2007.
Three other complaints were filed in the Southern District of Texas. Gume Roberto Garza, 59, a native of Mexico, is accused of using another person’s identity on a Texas driver’s license, concealing drug arrests, and pleading guilty in 2013 to a false under-oath statement in a naturalization matter.
Syed Furqan Ali, 74, a native of Pakistan, and Sorsamkhan Som, 67, a native of Cambodia, are accused of seeking naturalization through marriages to U.S. citizens while still married to their first wives and fabricating divorces to gain admission. The Ali complaint was filed September 28. The Som complaint was filed October 1.
Civil Cases Require Court Rulings
Federal law provides for revocation of naturalization when citizenship was illegally procured or obtained through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation. The newly filed complaints do not themselves revoke citizenship; federal courts must decide the civil cases.
The Dallas Express previously reported in July on 10 earlier denaturalization cases brought as part of the administration’s broader enforcement effort.
DOJ cautioned that the claims in the 40 new complaints remain allegations and that courts have not made determinations of liability.
Provided by Dallas Express
