Indian-born CEO faces loss of US citizenship over H-1B visa fraud

An India-born CEO is among 17 naturalised Americans facing the loss of their US citizenship as the Trump administration launches what officials describe as the among the largest denaturalisation efforts in American history. The campaign targets foreign-born US citizens accused of obtaining naturalisation through fraud, concealment or misrepresentation, as well as those convicted of violent and sexual crimes.

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday (June 8) that it had filed denaturalisation actions against 17 naturalised citizens accused of obtaining citizenship through fraud, concealment or misrepresentation. According to the department, the group includes individuals accused or convicted of offences ranging from child sexual abuse and drug trafficking to wire fraud and immigration fraud.

Among those named is Neeraj Sharma, a 50-year-old Indian-born businessman who owned and served as CEO of New Jersey-based staffing company Magnavision LLC. According to the Justice Department, Sharma signed and filed 11 fraudulent H-1B visa petitions that falsely claimed foreign workers would be employed by a major global financial institution. The petitions contained forged executive signatures and fabricated supporting documents.

The department further alleges that when Sharma applied for US citizenship in 2017, he falsely stated under oath that he had never committed an offence for which he had not been arrested, never provided false information to U.S. government officials and never lied to obtain immigration benefits. He subsequently became a US citizen in December 2017.

Sharma was later convicted of visa fraud relating to conduct that allegedly took place between 2015 and 2017. The Justice Department is now seeking to revoke his citizenship, arguing that he concealed unlawful acts and obtained naturalisation through material misrepresentations.

Alongside Sharma, the US Justice Department is seeking to denaturalise 16 other individuals convicted for violent or serious crimes, including sex offences against children. Others were convicted of fraud crimes or accused of committing immigration fraud.

Those slated to lose their US citizenships include a Haitian immigrant who allegedly sexually abused his daughter; a man from the former Yugoslavia convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 15, an immigrant from Mexico convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors, a former Catholic priest born in Colombia accused of child sex abuse, and a Filipino-born man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime, reported the US-based outlet, CBS News.

The daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker accused of money laundering; a man born in Jamaica convicted of wire fraud, and a Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding a tribal casino were also among those whose citizenship is being revoked.

NEERAJ SHARMA'S PROCEEDINGS PART OF BROADER DENATURALISATION PUSH IN THE US

The action against Sharma and the 16 others forms part of a broader Trump administration campaign to dramatically increase the use of denaturalisation proceedings.

Under the Immigration and ity Act, the US government has the power to revoke the citizenship of naturalised Americans if it can prove they were never legally entitled to obtain it.

However, the process has historically been rare. According to CBS News, the Justice Department filed slightly more than 300 denaturalisation cases between 1990 and 2017, averaging around 11 cases a year.

Historically, denaturalisation proceedings were largely reserved for exceptional cases involving war criminals, human rights abusers, national security threats or individuals who had concealed serious criminal conduct. But the Trump administration has sought to broaden the categories of people prioritised for citizenship revocation, including those accused of certain financial and immigration-related fraud offences.

According to a report in The New York Times, the Justice Department last month said it asked federal courts to revoke the citizenship of 12 immigrants who committed crimes or other acts that made them ineligible to naturalise. That announcement came after Department of Homeland Security officials were told late last year to refer upward of 200 denaturalisation cases a month.

The Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it wants to revoke. Matthew Tragesser, a Justice Department spokesperson, said that officials were "pursuing the highest volume of denaturalisation referrals in history" from the Department of Homeland Security, reported The New York Times.

In an interview with CBS News in May, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration was pursuing more denaturalisation cases than at any point in the previous nine years and suggested that many naturalised citizens who obtained citizenship fraudulently should be concerned.

"If you're going to come and become a citizen in this country, but you're going to do it by fraud, you're going to do it in a way that's illegal, you should be worried," Blanche told CBS News. He also claimed there were "a lot of individuals who are citizens who shouldn't be."

The administration has framed the initiative as a crackdown on abuse of the naturalisation process. Announcing the latest cases, Blanche said the Justice Department would maintain a "zero-tolerance policy" toward those who obtained citizenship unlawfully. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin similarly argued that American citizenship is a "privilege" that must be earned honestly and said the government would continue using "every lawful avenue" to denaturalise individuals who lied during immigration proceedings, reported The New York Times.

Those targeted in the latest round of cases will have the opportunity to challenge the government’s allegations in federal court. If denaturalised, they would lose the protections associated with US citizenship and could become subject to deportation proceedings.

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