Justice Department secures denaturalization of convicted gun trafficker and health care fraudster
Key Takeaways
- The Justice Department announced it has won denaturalization against two naturalized citizens and sued to revoke the citizenship of a third.
- Denaturalization is a civil federal process to strip U.S. citizenship obtained by fraud, concealment, or willful misrepresentation; it can lead to removal (deportation) if the person is removable.
- The individuals named are Vladimir Volgaev (Ukraine native), Mirelys Cabrera Diaz (Cuba native), and Alec Nasreddine Kassir (Lebanon native); the DOJ ties the first two to criminal convictions predating or concealed at naturalization.
- These actions underscore intensified DOJ scrutiny of naturalization fraud and have direct consequences for naturalized citizens and their families, and for people currently in the immigration pipeline.
What the DOJ announced
The Justice Department said Thursday that it secured denaturalization of two people who allegedly obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud and filed suit to revoke the citizenship of a third for marriage fraud. Attorney General Pam Bondi was quoted saying citizenship is a "sacred privilege" and that the department is stripping citizenship from those who conceal crimes or defraud the immigration system. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate framed the Volgaev case as an example of someone who "returned [the United States'] gains with malice," according to the DOJ statement.
Legal basis and process
Denaturalization is a civil proceeding in federal court in which the government must show that citizenship was illegally procured, or procured by concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation. The government typically must meet a heightened evidentiary burden (commonly described in case law as clear and convincing evidence). If the court revokes citizenship, the individual becomes a noncitizen again and can be referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for potential removal proceedings. Denaturalization does not automatically equal deportation, but it removes the protections and benefits of U.S. citizenship and often leads to immigration enforcement action.
Who is affected and what it means for immigrants
The DOJ named three people: Vladimir Volgaev, a Ukraine native who reportedly naturalized in 2016 and was convicted in 2020 of smuggling firearms components and theft of government money or property; Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a Cuba native convicted in 2019 of conspiring to commit health care fraud (pleading guilty and sentenced to 29 months in prison with more than $6 million in restitution), whom the DOJ says committed the disqualifying crimes before she naturalized; and Alec Nasreddine Kassir, a Lebanon native whom the DOJ sued for alleged marriage fraud — it has been reported that he falsely represented living with a U.S. citizen spouse. For real people, the practical effects are severe: loss of passport and voting rights, exposure to incarceration if criminal charges exist, and possible initiation of removal proceedings that can separate families and upend livelihoods.
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