10 Naturalized Citizens Lose Citizenship for Fraud

You filled out the paperwork, sat through the interview, and swore an oath. For the 10 people named in new federal complaints, that oath is now being challenged in court. Over the past 30 days, the Department of Justice — working with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — filed denaturalization complaints against 10 naturalized U.S. citizens in federal district courts across the country. The government says each of them lied during the naturalization process to hide crimes that would have disqualified them from citizenship.

What the law says about revoking citizenship

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act — the main federal law governing immigration and citizenship — a naturalized citizen's citizenship can be revoked if it was obtained illegally or by hiding important facts or lying. That includes lying under oath to a USCIS officer during a naturalization interview. The complaints filed by DOJ are allegations only; no court has yet found these individuals liable.

The 10 cases span multiple countries of origin and very different crimes. Yoskmaikel Rodriguez Perez, 45, originally from Cuba, allegedly ran a fake medical clinic and submitted more than $886,000 in false Medicare claims before becoming a citizen in 2018 — then hid those crimes during his naturalization interview. Urbano Vazquez Ortega, 53, from Mexico, became a citizen in 2017 and was later convicted of multiple counts of second-degree child sexual abuse while working as a priest in Washington, D.C.; he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019. Martin Garcia Cardiel, 60, also from Mexico, naturalized in October 2011 and was convicted in 2022 by a Utah jury on 19 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child — crimes committed in 2007, years before he applied for citizenship. Omar Cantu-Montalvo, 44, applied for citizenship in July 2005 stating he had never been arrested, naturalized in December 2005, and later pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiracy to possess more than five kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute — a conspiracy he had joined in April 2005, months before applying. Other cases involve identity fraud, stolen parish funds, and sexual abuse of minors.

Why this matters if you are applying for citizenship

The naturalization interview includes questions about your criminal history, prior immigration applications, and whether you have ever given false information to a U.S. government official. These are sworn statements. Answering falsely — even about an old arrest that did not lead to a conviction — can be treated as a separate federal crime and, if citizenship is granted, as grounds to revoke it later. Several of the 10 cases involve crimes committed years before the naturalization application; the government argues those crimes showed the applicants lacked the "good moral character" required by law, and that hiding them was fraud.

What to do

• If you are preparing to file Form N-400 (the application for naturalization) and have any criminal history — arrests, charges, convictions, or even traffic offenses that resulted in a fine — disclose everything to an immigration attorney before you file. Do not guess what is "minor enough" to skip.
• If you used a different name, a different identity, or filed any prior immigration application under different information, tell your attorney. The Murtaza Ali case shows that fingerprint records can link identities across applications filed years apart.
• If you are already a naturalized citizen and you lied during your interview, lawyers recommend speaking with an immigration attorney confidentially to understand your exposure. Denaturalization cases can be filed long after the oath ceremony.
• To report suspected immigration benefit fraud by others, USCIS provides a Tip Form at uscis.gov.

What to do, step by step — see our guide “The Path to U.S. Citizenship”.