Trump administration moves to strip US citizenship from Caribbean-born nationals
The Justice Department is seeking to denaturalise 17 people, including natives of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
NEW YORK, United States. President Donald J. Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has moved to strip US citizenship from 17 individuals, including Caribbean nationals, accused of crimes ranging from sexual abuse of a minor to drug distribution.
Those targeted include natives of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The others are from Mexico, Colombia, Yugoslavia, India, Somalia, China, Congo and the Philippines.
The DOJ said that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalised citizen’s citizenship may be revoked if it was illegally procured, or procured by concealment of a material fact or by wilful misrepresentation.
Officials defend policy
“When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. He said the department maintained “a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said: “American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly.” He said DHS would “continue to use every lawful avenue to denaturalize and remove aliens.”
The Caribbean cases
According to the DOJ, the Caribbean nationals include Leidys Delmas Garcia, 54, a native of Cuba convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres, 40, also a native of Cuba, who was part of a conspiracy to defraud a tribal casino in Florida.
Talman Harris, 49, a native of Jamaica, conspired to manipulate the price and volume of stock shares, the department said. Rodger George Gurdon, 55, also a native of Jamaica, was involved in a conspiracy to steal and resell medical products from military hospitals operated by the Department of Defense.
Federico Michel Fermin, 54, a native of the Dominican Republic, conspired with others to distribute more than US$1.7 million in prescription drugs without a licence, the DOJ said.
The list also includes a 68-year-old native of Haiti and a 40-year-old native of Trinidad and Tobago, both of whom the department said had committed sexual offences involving minors.
