The Trump administration has launched a denaturalization drive against immigrant US citizens involved in criminal proceedings. The US Department of Justice released 12 names on May 8, including one naturalized Indian who defrauded an aircraft maintenance facility.
Debashis Ghosh, a 62-year-old native of India, allegedly concealed his role in a $2.5 million fraud scheme before taking the oath of US citizenship. According to the DOJ complaint filed in Illinois, Ghosh and others misused investor money meant for an aircraft maintenance project in New York.
The DOJ claims the fraud started in 2010, well before Ghosh became a naturalized US citizen in May 2012, giving grounds for stripping his US citizenship. Officials say that during his citizenship process, he falsely stated under oath that he hadn’t committed any crimes.
A federal jury later convicted him in 2017 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was further sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
In this new denaturalization campaign, Ghosh is mentioned among 11 other individuals, some of whom have links to terrorist organizations, sexually abused a minor, or have committed war crimes. The DOJ says citizenship obtained through fraud “undermines” the integrity of the US immigration system and is going to give the “full extent of law” to these naturalized citizens.
Denaturalization cases are rare and might have to go through a long due process to finally be acted upon. Nonetheless, the Trump administration’s willingness to go to such lengths shows they are leaving no stone unturned in this anti-immigration drive.
