US citizenship revocation proceedings target 17 people over alleged H-1B visa fraud

The United States has begun proceedings to revoke citizenship of 17 people, including Indian immigrant Neeraj Sharma of Magnavision LLC, according to the Department of Justice. Prosecutors allege fraudulent H-1B petitions and forged supporting letters, alongside false testimony during a 2017 naturalisation interview. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne said citizenship must be earned honestly.

The US government said on Monday that it had started legal action to strip citizenship from 17 naturalised Americans. Officials said the people faced allegations of serious crimes. The group included Indian immigrant Neeraj Sharma, linked to alleged fraud involving H-1B visa petitions, according to the Department of Justice.

Among the 17 cases, the Department of Justice named 50-year-old Neeraj Sharma, who owned the New Jersey staffing firm Magnavision LLC. Officials said Sharma signed and submitted 11 fake H-1B petitions. The filings allegedly claimed the workers would join a global financial institution.

US citizenship revocation proceedings and the Neeraj Sharma H-1B visa case

According to the Department of Justice, letters used to support the H-1B petitions carried forged signatures. Officials said the signatures belonged to executives at the global financial institution. The Justice Department also said Sharma sought naturalisation in 2017 and allegedly gave false sworn testimony during the interview.

The Justice Department said Sharma became a US citizen in December 2017. Authorities later convicted Sharma of fraud and misuse of visas. Officials said the conduct happened between April 2015 and April 2017. The Department of Justice linked that period to the H-1B filings.

"American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly. If you come here, break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege,\" said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in a statement.

Officials said federal law allowed the government to cancel naturalisation in specific situations. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalised US citizens citizenship may be revoked. Authorities said this applied if citizenship was obtained illegally or by hiding key facts. It also covered willful misrepresentation, officials said.

\"When criminal aliens exploit the naturalisation process by breaking the law, there are consequences. Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters. Gaining US 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,\" said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

\"We will not turn a blind eye to those who unlawfully obtained US citizenship,\" Assistant Attorney General Brett A Shumate of the Justice Departments Civil Division.

US citizenship revocation proceedings list includes child sex crimes, fraud and money laundering

The latest denaturalisation cases also covered several people accused or convicted of sex crimes. Officials listed a Haitian immigrant accused of sexually abusing a daughter. The group included a man from the former Yugoslavia convicted of abusing a child under 15. Authorities also cited a Mexico-born immigrant convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors.

The Department of Justice also named a former Catholic priest born in Colombia who faced child sex abuse accusations. A Filipino-born man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime was listed too. Officials also included the daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker, accused of money laundering, among those targeted.

Other cases involved alleged financial crimes, officials said. The list included a Jamaica-born man convicted of wire fraud. A Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding a tribal casino was also named. The Department of Justice said these cases formed part of the same effort to revoke citizenship from 17 people.

With inputs from PTI