In a statement of titanic importance released on Thursday, March 26, the Trump Administration revealed that it is cracking down on immigration fraud and will be fighting hard to surge denaturalization and deportations of migrants who commit fraud to become American citizens, a major step forward in kicking the fraudsters out of the country.
As background, this is something that many on the MAGA side of politics have long been pressing the administration to do. Instead of just deporting the illegal aliens and cancelling visas, which is seen as good but not sufficient by many, they want the administration to look into really cracking down on those who committed immigration fraud so that they can be denaturalized and deported. Many have pointed to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as a case in point of this.
Now, the DOJ is finally starting to ramp up the denaturalization and deportation process. Announcing the move, the department released a press statement titled, “Trump Administration Ramps Up Efforts to Denaturalize Those Who Gained U.S. Citizenship by Concealing Crimes and Committing Fraud.”
Explaining the move, the DOJ then noted that it has already succeeded in two cases and is working on a third, one which could set a major precedent moving forward for how these are handled. It said, “The Department of Justice announced today that it has secured the denaturalization of two individuals who obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud and sued to revoke the citizenship of a third person that secured naturalization by marriage fraud.” As marriage fraud is what Ilhan Omar is accused of, that last case could be of massive importance in the months ahead.
AG Pam Bondi, commenting on the situation and the DOJ’s efforts, noted that citizenship is not something that can or should be taken lightly, but rather a “sacred privilege” that must be treated seriously, and which fraud regarding must be punished. She said, “American citizenship is a sacred privilege — not a cheap status that can be obtained dishonestly.”
Continuing, she noted that the DOJ is cracking down on those who commit fraud during the immigration and naturalization process, and will punish it with due vigor. She said, “These actions reflect this Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to strip citizenship from people who conceal crimes or defraud the American people during the immigration process.” The DOJ statement then went on to explain the three cases.
That news was made all the bigger by the fact that Vice President JD Vance, appearing on Benny Johnson’s podcast on Friday, March 27, explained that the Trump White House is going after Ilhan Omar for immigration fraud it has found that she “committed” that she could be denaturalized and deported.
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Benny asked, kicking off that part of the discussion, “The president and the White House have been out saying that she married her brother, that there is immigration fraud going on here. These are deportable, denaturalization offenses. Can you give us an update on that?”
Beginning, JD Vance noted that the admin has found she committed fraud and is looking into the best way to tackle that. He said, “Yeah, so we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America. And I talked to Steve Miller about this, actually, recently, we’re trying to look at what the remedies are. That’s the thing that we’re trying to figure out is, what are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud, how do you go after? How do you investigate? Or how do you actually do the thing? How do you build the case necessary to get some some some justice for the American people?”
Continuing, he argued that she has been one of the worst fraudsters, saying, “There’s a related issue Benny, which is she has been at the center of a lot of the worst fraudsters in the Somalian community. So do I know that Ileana Mar was aware that the Quality Learing Center was defrauding the American people? I’m not certain of it, but we at least need to investigate it, because if people can commit wrongdoing without even the fear that they’re going to be found out. That’s a fundamental problem. So I’m worried about the immigration fraud. I’m also worried about what did Ilhan Omar know about what was happening in the Somali community, and why was nobody looking into it, until, frankly, Donald Trump came along?”
Watch him here:
Speaking previously, Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon, commenting on the Ilhan Omar situation, said, “I think it’s been well covered, and I covered it certainly myself before I joined the DOJ. That certainly it’s, it’s a, it’s a truism of immigration law that if you commit fraud in the course of obtaining your citizenship . . . you can be denaturalized If you lie about your marriage status, that on which your citizenship depends, or or your familial status, or what have you, if you if you fake any of those documents, or you lie, that’s a grounds for denaturalization, and so I think it’s been credibly alleged that there are serious questions about the circumstances of the paperwork around that naturalization. I’ll just leave it at that.”
She added, “I’m not working on that issue. That’s not part of what the Civil Rights Division does, but I think we need to police that seriously. It is a precious privilege to be granted citizenship as a naturalized citizen in this country, and I don’t think it should be taken away lightly, but if it’s just a basic concept of law that if you commit fraud in the course of obtaining a benefit, you know you’re not entitled to it.”
Watch her here:
Similarly, Tom Homan, commenting previously on the matter, said, “You know, I just got advised by fraud investor the other day on that, I asked the question, who reviewed the file? Says, No, there was immigration fraud involved. The statute of limitation became an issue in the last four years when this was first brought up, who was president, who run DOJ. So pulling the records.”
Continuing, he noted that the investigation seems certain to reach the conclusion that she committed fraud, saying, “Now, pulling the files, and we’re looking at but this fraud investigator, who I know, personally, one of the best fraud investigators in HSI Homeland Security Investigations, said, ‘There’s no doubt.’ He reviewed the file. So I’m running that down this week, matter of fact, and we’ll see.”
Watch him here: