OAN Staff Addie Davis
9:18 AM – Tuesday, June 9, 2026
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had filed complaints to denaturalize 17 individuals who are accused of committing serious offenses, including sexual abuse of a minor, fraud and drug dealing.
In a Monday release, the DOJ alleged that the individuals misrepresented themselves or provided false testimony during the naturalization process and are therefore legally eligible to have their citizenship revoked under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The alleged crimes, as well as those which already led to convictions, ranged from bank and wire fraud to sexual abuse of a minor.
“When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences. Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom President Donald Trump officially nominated to become the permanent attorney general, according to the White House.
“Gaining U.S. citizenship is a privilege and under the steadfast leadership of President Trump, this Department of Justice maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process,” he continued.
One instance included Jean Claude Alfred, from Haiti, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1994. In 1993, the DOJ said Alfred began repeatedly sexually abusing his minor daughter, and was convicted in 1996 of “attempted sexual battery upon a child in a familial or custodial relationship and lewd, lascivious, and indecent assault upon a child under the age of 16.”
“The denaturalization complaint alleges that Alfred illegally procured his citizenship because he provided false testimony which prevented him from establishing good moral character required for naturalization,” the release stated.
“The complaint further alleges that Alfred obtained citizenship through the concealment and willful misrepresentation of material facts concerning his sexual abuse of a minor,” it continued.
In representing the other complaints, the DOJ included similar wording regarding lying and concealing pertinent information during naturalization proceedings. A common thread for many of the cases included individuals allegedly falsely claiming that they had not committed a crime for which they had not been arrested.
In the case of Maria Lourdes Montoya, from Mexico, the DOJ alleged she misrepresented her husband’s identity to secure permanent residence and subsequent citizenship. Montoya claimed to be married to Gilberto Montoya, a U.S. citizen, who had died decades earlier, though her real husband was Ernesto Orozco-Viramontes, a Mexican national, the DOJ explained. It alleged that Orozco-Viramontes assumed the identity of Gilberto Montoya, and that Maria Montoya was aware of the deception.
“Montoya was aware of her husband’s deception and leveraged it to obtain immigration benefits, including naturalized citizenship,” the DOJ said, stating a five-count complaint had been filed against Montoya that sought to cancel her naturalized citizenship.
Some of the complaints also alleged that the individuals had assumed separate identities in order to reapply for immigration benefits.
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides a framework for initiating denaturalization proceedings.
“It shall be the duty of the United States attorneys…to institute proceedings… for the purpose of revoking and setting aside the order admitting such person to citizenship and canceling the certificate of naturalization on the ground that such order and certificate of naturalization were illegally procured or were procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation…” the act reads.
In May, the DOJ announced it was moving to denaturalize 12 citizens for serious alleged crimes. The most recent efforts show ramped-up endeavors to denaturalize those who have unlawfully obtained their citizenship.
According to The Hill, research purported that between 1990 and 2017, the U.S. government filed 11 denaturalization cases per year on average.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news alerts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!
Sponsored Content Below
Be the first to comment