USCIS chief launches historic offensive against immigration fraud, armed with denaturalization

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has created a special team of criminal investigators to root out immigration fraud, equipping newly designated special agents with expanded law enforcement powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute violators and even denaturalize cheaters. 

"We're going to get to a place where people are going to know that if they file, and they're going to file something fraudulently, or they're not giving us their full story, we're going to find that," United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow told Just The News.

"What we are doing, what we saw a need for, was a very specialized group of criminal investigators. Many are in training right now, and we are bringing more on all the time who are going to be going out to various field offices across the county and investigating actual immigration fraud."

Edlow announced the initiative in September under a final rule that allows the agency to hire and train 1811-classified officers who can carry firearms, execute warrants and handle cases from start to finish without always referring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

“USCIS has always been an enforcement agency,” Edlow said in the agency’s news release. “This historic moment will better address immigration crimes, hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal law enforcement partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force.” 

The move fulfills a delegation of authority from former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and aims to strengthen fraud detection and national security vetting in the legal immigration system.

In one early test of the heightened scrutiny, USCIS’s Operation Twin Shield in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area uncovered suspected fraud in 275 of more than 1,000 cases reviewed during a 10-day surge of site visits and interviews. Edlow declared the operation part of a broader crackdown. “USCIS is declaring an all-out war on immigration fraud,” he said. “We will relentlessly pursue everyone involved in undermining the integrity of our immigration system and laws.”

Edlow also commented on building on the work of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) investigations, with the ability to zoom in on specific crimes: "This is with all due respect to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). They do a great job, but they have such a broad set of authorities. This is a narrow set. We're only going to be focused on the immigration and naturalization work, and that's what's going to finally bring some order to the legal immigration system."

Individuals found to have committed immigration fraud, particularly in procuring naturalization through concealment of material facts, willful misrepresentation or illegal means, face potential denaturalization and subsequent deportation, according to U.S. law and ongoing enforcement actions. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ), often with assistance from USCIS, pursues civil or criminal denaturalization cases in federal court when evidence shows citizenship was illegally obtained, such as through sham marriages, false identities, hidden criminal history or fraudulent documents, after which a person reverts to prior immigration status and becomes removable.  

Recent examples include filings against naturalized citizens involved in tax fraud schemes, identity concealment to evade prior deportation orders and naturalization fraud via fake divorce decrees. 

Edlow has emphasized that revetting of past cases and accountability will be used to root out fraudsters and there is no statute of limitations for most civil denaturalization actions.

Amanda Head serves as White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.