The Trump administration intensified efforts to revoke U.S. citizenship from individuals accused of obtaining it through fraud or by concealing criminal conduct, the Department of Justice announced this week, signaling a renewed focus on denaturalization enforcement.
Federal officials said recent court actions underscore what they described as a broader initiative to strip citizenship from individuals who were ineligible at the time they naturalized.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi called U.S. citizenship a "sacred privilege," adding that the department is committed to pursuing cases where applicants allegedly misled authorities or engaged in disqualifying criminal activity.
In one case, a federal court revoked the citizenship of Vladimir Volgaev, a Ukrainian national who prosecutors said concealed his role in a firearms smuggling conspiracy.
According to court filings, Volgaev participated in the illegal export of more than 1,000 firearm components beginning in 2011 and later committed housing benefits fraud. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2016 but was convicted of related crimes in 2020.
The court found he failed to disclose his criminal conduct during the naturalization process and lacked the required "good moral character," making his citizenship invalid.
In a separate case, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida revoked the citizenship of Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a Cuban-born resident of Hialeah.
Prosecutors said Cabrera Diaz participated in a Medicare fraud scheme prior to becoming a citizen in 2017. She later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and was sentenced to prison, with more than $6 million in restitution ordered. The court determined that her pre-naturalization conduct disqualified her from citizenship.
The Justice Department has also filed a civil complaint seeking to revoke the citizenship of Alec Kassir, a Lebanese national accused of obtaining naturalization through a fraudulent marriage.
Prosecutors allege Kassir falsely claimed to be living with his U.S. citizen spouse, a requirement for expedited naturalization, and later admitted to passport fraud tied to those misrepresentations.
Legal experts note that denaturalization cases, once relatively rare, have gained prominence in recent years as federal authorities increasingly scrutinize past naturalization approvals. Such cases are handled in civil court, where the government must prove that citizenship was "illegally procured" or obtained through willful misrepresentation.
Justice Department officials said the latest actions are part of ongoing coordination with agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, with additional cases expected as reviews continue.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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