The Justice Department has stepped up efforts this week to revoke citizenship from individuals accused of obtaining it through deception, securing two court-ordered denaturalizations and launching a third case involving alleged marriage fraud.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the moves are part of a broader initiative aimed at individuals who concealed criminal activity during the naturalization process, according to a report Thursday.

“American citizenship is a sacred privilege, not a cheap status that can be obtained dishonestly,” Bondi said.

On March 23, a federal judge stripped citizenship from Vladimir Volgaev, a Ukrainian national previously convicted of illegally exporting firearm components and committing housing fraud.

Prosecutors said Volgaev orchestrated a long-running operation beginning in 2011 in which he sold gun parts to overseas buyers while simultaneously exploiting federal housing assistance programs.

Although he became a U.S. citizen in 2016, authorities said he failed to disclose his criminal conduct, leading the court to determine he did not meet the requirement of demonstrating “good moral character” for naturalization.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said the decision reflects the department’s stance on such cases.

“The United States provided Volgaev with safety, housing, and citizenship, and he returned those gains with malice, including by defrauding one of the federal agencies that provided him benefits,” Shumate said.

“We will not reward this kind of behavior by allowing such an individual to retain U.S. citizenship that should not have been granted in the first place.”

The following day, a separate federal judge revoked the citizenship of Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a Cuban national convicted in 2019 for her role in a $6 million Medicare fraud operation.

Court records indicate that Cabrera Diaz admitted she took part in submitting fraudulent prescription claims prior to becoming a U.S. citizen in 2017, including paying illegal kickbacks to recruit patients. The court concluded that this conduct disqualified her from meeting the legal standards for naturalization.

The department has also filed a civil case against Alec Nasreddine Kassir, a Lebanese national accused of securing citizenship through a sham marriage.

According to prosecutors, Kassir falsely claimed to be living with a U.S. citizen spouse during the required timeframe and later acknowledged committing passport fraud related to his naturalization.

The latest actions come amid a broader rise in denaturalization efforts over recent decades.

From 1990 through 2017, the Justice Department brought 305 such cases, averaging about 11 annually.

That number increased significantly during President Donald Trump’s first term, when 168 cases were filed—an average of about 42 per year—compared to 64 cases, or roughly 16 annually, during former President Joe Biden’s administration, according to a July Washington Post report.

Preliminary data from Trump’s second term suggests the department has already achieved roughly the same number of denaturalizations as occurred during the entire four years of the Biden administration, a Justice Department spokesperson said.

{Matzav.com}