Singh was ordered excluded and deported on January 7, 1992.
The United States on Tuesday filed civil denaturalization complaints against three individuals including an Indian American for allegedly obtaining their naturalized US citizenship by fraud.
Indian American Baljinder Singh, along with Pakistani Americans Parvez Manzoor Khan and Rashid Mahmood faces charges for allegedly concealing their prior orders of exclusion and deportation under different identities than the identity under which they naturalized, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
The complaint against Singh was filed at the federal court in the District of New Jersey while the complaints against the Pakistani Americans were filed in the federal courts in the Middle district of Florida and District of Connecticut respectively.
It contains charges including illegal procurement of naturalization by not being lawfully admitted for permanent residence (fraud or willful misrepresentation), illegal procurement of naturalization due to lack of good moral character (false testimony) and procurement of US citizenship (concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation; false testimony).
“The Justice Department is committed to preserving the integrity of our nation’s immigration system, and in particular, the asylum and naturalization process,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Deparment’s Civil Division said in the statement.
“The civil complaints charge that defendants in these cases exploited our immigration system and unlawfully secure the ultimate immigration benefit of naturalization. The filming of these cases sends a clear message to immigration fraudsters – if you break out immigration laws, we will prosecute you and denaturalize you,” the statement added.
The three cases were referred to the Department of Justice by USCIS and identified as part of Operation Janus, which identified about 315,000 cases.
The 43-year-old Baljinder Singh arrived at San Francisco International Airport from India on September 25, 1991 without any travel documents or proof of identity. He claimed his name was Davinder Singh and was placed in exclusion proceedings. As he failed to appear for the immigration court hearing, he was ordered excluded and deported on January 7, 1992.
Four weeks later, on Feb. 6, 1992, he filed an asylum application under the name Baljinder Singh. He claimed to be an Indian who entered the United States without inspection. Singh abandoned that application after he married a U.S. citizen, who filed a visa petition on his behalf. Singh naturalized under the name Baljinder Singh on July 28, 2006. Singh has been residing in Carteret, New Jersey.
This case was investigated by USCIS and the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, District Court Section (OIL-DCS). The case is being prosecuted by Counsel for National Security Aaron Petty of OIL-DCS’s National Security and Affirmative Litigation Unit (NS/A Unit), with support from USCIS Office of the Chief Counsel, Southeast Law Division.