Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has begun the process of stripping ten career criminals of their naturalized American citizenship, potentially clearing the way for their eventual deportation. Federal officials allege that the migrants concealed crimes, used false identities, or otherwise lied during the naturalization process. The cases involve convicted child sex abusers, fraudsters, a cocaine trafficker, and others accused of exploiting the immigration system. The government has filed denaturalization actions, meaning their citizenship has not yet been revoked and the cases must proceed through the courts.
The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice announced the ten cases as part of the Trump administration’s expanding effort to identify migrants who obtained citizenship through fraud or willful misrepresentation. Naturalized citizens generally cannot lose citizenship simply because they commit a crime after naturalization. Federal law does, however, permit the government to revoke citizenship when officials prove that it was illegally obtained or secured by concealing material facts.
DHS cited the Immigration and Nationality Act in explaining the legal basis for the cases. “Citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation,” the department said. Several of the individuals allegedly committed crimes before becoming citizens but denied or concealed that conduct during immigration proceedings. Others allegedly used fraudulent documents, false names, or misleading information to obtain immigration benefits.
As Breitbart News reported, Mullin said citizenship obtained through fraud can be taken away. “When you commit fraud during the naturalization process, you forfeit the right to keep your U.S. citizenship,” Mullin said. “These criminal aliens, comprised of drug traffickers, pedophiles, and fraudsters, lost that right and exploited our immigration system — harming real U.S. citizens.” He added that DHS is committed to using “every tool at our disposal” to denaturalize and remove them.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the ten individuals lacked the character legally required to become American citizens and concealed conduct that would have affected their applications. “These ten criminal aliens — including child sex abusers, a nearly $900,000 Medicare fraudster, and a cocaine trafficker — lied their way into U.S. citizenship,” Blanche said. “Each of these individuals lacked the good moral character required by law and procured citizenship through willful misrepresentations and concealment of their crimes.” Blanche said the Justice Department would continue aggressively pursuing denaturalization cases under President Donald Trump.
Among those targeted is 45-year-old Cuban national Yoskmaikel Rodriguez Perez, who became a citizen in 2019 and was arrested in 2026 for alleged health care and wire fraud. Mexican national Ceflo Luviano-Mojica, 60, allegedly failed to disclose previous convictions involving grand theft auto and firearms before he was naturalized. The government is also seeking to denaturalize Urbano Vazquez Ortega, a 53-year-old Mexican national and former priest who became a citizen in 2017. Ortega was convicted of sexually assaulting children in Washington, D.C., between 2015 and 2019.
Pakistani native Murtaza Ali, 65, was convicted of filing applications for immigration benefits under false names and allegedly obtained citizenship under another false identity. Peruvian national Jimmy Aguero, 51, was naturalized in 2015 and later found guilty of eight counts of sexually abusing a child. Mexican national Antonio Alcantara-Ruiz, 53, is accused of filing his naturalization application using falsified documents. The government maintains that those misrepresentations rendered their citizenship illegally procured from the beginning.
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Mexican national Omar Cantu-Montalvo, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess more than five kilograms of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. He was sentenced to 100 days in jail and five months of supervision after having been naturalized in 2005. Another Mexican national, 59-year-old Franscisco Montano, became a citizen in 1997. Montano was later convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of indecency with a child.
Polish national Marcin Stanislaw Garbacz, 47, was convicted of crimes including wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and sexually assaulting a child. The final person identified by federal officials is 60-year-old Mexican national Martin Garcia Cardiel. Cardiel was convicted of nineteen counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Federal officials are now asking the courts to cancel the citizenship of all ten individuals before immigration authorities pursue their removal from the United States.
Watch AG Dhillon describe how Ilhan Omar could be denaturalized and deported here: