The Justice Department is seeking to strip U.S. citizenship from 40 naturalized foreign nationals who allegedly lied their way in, the largest single-period denaturalization push under President Trump’s initiative.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the filings this week. Complaints landed in federal courts from Texas to Florida, California to Virginia, and several other districts between Aug. 10 and Sept. 22.

DOJ officials say the targets obtained citizenship through concealment, false statements, identity fraud, or by hiding serious crimes. The cases form part of what the department calls its largest denaturalization effort in history.

Breitbart reported the sweep and the specific allegations against named defendants.

Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department put the charge in plain terms.

"Every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship."

He added the administration’s broader message.

"This administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalization effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in U.S. citizenship. Our message is clear: the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalization process."

Citizenship is not a loophole. When applicants hide felonies, steal identities, or fake marriages, the government can go back to court and unwind the grant. That is the process now underway.

Child sex crimes and concealment after naturalization

Several of the cases center on sexual abuse of minors that defendants failed to disclose during the naturalization process.

Ramiro Escot Esparza, 60, from Mexico, became a permanent resident in 1990 and applied for citizenship in 2008. Prosecutors say he concealed multiple acts of sexual misconduct against a minor. Just months after he obtained citizenship, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. The United States brought the denaturalization action Aug. 27 in the Central District of California.

Jose Ramiro Montiel Carrasco, 57, from Mexico, faces a complaint filed Sept. 14 in the Middle District of Florida. Officials allege he sexually abused a minor and committed incest before naturalizing, beginning around 2000 when the victim was 14 or 15. He failed to disclose the crimes. After naturalization he was convicted in Florida state court for sexual battery and incest and received concurrent sentences of eight and five years.

Arnel Dacumos Tabafunda, 47, from the Philippines, naturalized in September 2005. The government says he began sexually abusing a child under 13 before that date and continued the abuse from February through November 2005 while in a position of trust. A jury later found him guilty of two counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 under California law. He received an eight-year prison sentence. DOJ filed the denaturalization case Sept. 15 in the Central District of California.

Iain Lumsden, 50, from the United Kingdom and living in Colorado, is accused of failing to disclose a child pornography conviction when he applied for citizenship.

These filings treat prior convictions and hidden conduct as direct grounds to challenge the original naturalization. The pattern matches other Trump-era moves that put consequences back on the table, including when Trump cleared Army action against a convicted jihadist.

Identity theft, dual names, and forged papers

Other defendants allegedly built their status on stolen or invented identities.

Gume Roberto Garza, also known as Gumercindo Garza Perez, Gerardo Vasquez, and Gerardo Vazquez, is 59 and from Mexico. Prosecutors say he entered illegally, secured a Texas driver’s license using the name, Social Security number, and date of birth of a real U.S. citizen, and was arrested multiple times for drug offenses while posing as that man. When he applied to naturalize in 2010 he concealed the alias and criminal history. In 2013 he pleaded guilty to making a false statement under oath in a naturalization matter. The United States filed the revocation complaint Aug. 28 in the Southern District of Texas.

Douglas Chukwuka Eze, also known as Anthony Chux Ezehez, was convicted in 2023 of two counts of false swearing in an immigration matter. He admitted that in the 1990s he stole the birth certificate of Spencer Douglas Callaghan and used that identity to obtain immigration benefits. DOJ filed the denaturalization complaint Aug. 10 in the District of Maryland, alleging concealment of material facts and illegal procurement of permanent resident status.

Balwinder Singh, 55, from India, allegedly used one identity for a 1992 immigration application and a second identity to gain permanent residence in 2003. Fingerprints tie both filings. He naturalized under the second identity in 2009. The complaint, filed Sept. 8 in the Eastern District of California, lists seven counts of misrepresentation and unlawful acts.

Gilberto Barraza, 58, from Mexico, entered illegally in 1987. In 1992 he applied for a U.S. passport, falsely claimed birth in the United States, and submitted a forged California birth certificate. He later married a U.S. citizen, adjusted status, and naturalized in 2008 while concealing the passport fraud. DOJ filed Sept. 18 in the District of Arizona.

Syed Mashood Ul Haque, 66, from Pakistan, entered on a tourist visa in 1993, overstayed, then used the name “Mashud Ahmad” to seek asylum in 1994. He failed to appear for a hearing and evaded deportation. Under his current name he later obtained permanent residence in 2005 and naturalized. The government says a prior deportation order under the false identity meant he was never lawfully admitted. The complaint was filed Sept. 16 in the Southern District of Florida.

Ifeolu Samuel Akingbemisilu, 58, from Sierra Leone, also known as John Samuel, Sylvester Akingbemisilu, and Anthony Davies, was ordered removed under one name, reentered on a fraudulent British passport under another, married a U.S. citizen, and naturalized in 2008 after changing names again. DOJ filed Sept. 18 in the Northern District of Georgia, alleging he never lawfully adjusted status and procured citizenship by concealment.

Ahmad Bahar Khattak, 69, from Pakistan, also known as Bahar Ahmad and Said Umar Khan, faces a seven-count complaint filed Aug. 21 in the Eastern District of Virginia. An immigration judge ordered him excluded in absentia in 1994 under one alias. He later naturalized on March 20, 2008, under another name without disclosing the exclusion order, then obtained U.S. passports and sponsored family members.

The common thread is simple: applicants who hide who they are cannot claim the process was honest. That enforcement focus tracks other recent Trump directives that cut through delay, such as when Trump signed order changes without waiting on endless process.

Marriage fraud, manslaughter, and violent crime

Ahmed Khan, 73, from Pakistan, is accused of marriage fraud. After arriving in 1999 he secured a bogus death certificate for his still-living Pakistani wife, married a U.S. citizen, and obtained permanent residence in 2002 by falsely claiming the first wife was dead and that he did not plan polygamy. He naturalized in 2008 while failing to disclose the ongoing foreign marriage and providing false testimony. DOJ filed Sept. 4 in the Southern District of Ohio.

Javier Marrero-Pando, 60, from Cuba and living in Athens, Georgia, failed to disclose that he had committed aggravated sodomy against a special-needs man. At his October 2020 naturalization interview he stated under oath that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. In May 2020, according to his later plea admission, he forced the victim to perform sexual acts against the victim’s will. In June 2022 he pleaded guilty to aggravated sodomy and received a life sentence with all but 15 years suspended. DOJ filed a three-count complaint Aug. 31 in the Middle District of Georgia seeking denaturalization for illegal procurement, lack of good moral character, and false statements.

Norma Patricia Esparza, 52, from Mexico, allegedly committed voluntary manslaughter before naturalizing and failed to disclose the crime. After naturalization she was convicted in California state court and sentenced to six years. DOJ filed the case Sept. 22 in the Central District of California.

Yusmary Shirley Duran Mejia, 47, from Colombia and living in Florida, is accused of failing to disclose a money-laundering conviction when she secured citizenship.

Each complaint asks a federal judge to revoke citizenship already granted. None of the new actions has a final judgment listed in the available reporting. The filings themselves document the alleged lies and the prior convictions or pleas.

Why the cases matter for citizenship integrity

Naturalization requires good moral character, truthful answers, and lawful permanent resident status. When someone conceals a child-sex conviction, a deportation order, a stolen birth certificate, or an ongoing foreign marriage, the grant rests on a false foundation.

Shumate’s statement frames the project as restoration of trust. The 40 filings, described as the largest single-period batch to date, put that claim into court records across more than ten federal districts.

The defendants come from Mexico, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Cuba, Sierra Leone, and other countries. Their alleged conduct ranges from identity theft and passport fraud to sexual abuse of children and manslaughter. The Justice Department is not inventing new crimes; it is asking courts to examine whether citizenship was obtained by deception.

That same insistence on follow-through appears in other Trump administration decisions that refuse to leave old cases unresolved, including when Trump approves Army measures years after the original attack.

DOJ personnel shifts have also marked the period. One recent departure from a Trump-related investigative team came when Kurt Olsen resigns from that unit, underscoring how the department’s lineup continues to change while enforcement dockets move forward.

President Trump has likewise pressed hard against institutions he says distort facts, at one point arguing that outlets should be arrested over rally coverage. The denaturalization push keeps the focus on applicants who, according to prosecutors, distorted their own records under oath.

What the complaints ask courts to do

Denaturalization is a civil action. The United States files a complaint in district court and must prove the citizenship was illegally procured or obtained by concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.

Statutes cited in the materials include the federal false-statement provision used in Garza’s earlier plea and the immigration false-swearing statute tied to Eze’s 2023 conviction. California’s child-sex statute appears in the Tabafunda case. Other complaints rest on lack of good moral character, prior removal orders, and failure to disclose crimes during interviews.

Filing dates stretch from Aug. 10 (Eze in Maryland) through Sept. 22 (Norma Patricia Esparza in California’s Central District). Venues include the Southern District of Texas, Central and Eastern Districts of California, Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia, Eastern District of Virginia, Southern District of Ohio, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, District of Maryland, and District of Arizona.

The public record so far is the set of allegations and the prior criminal dispositions already on the books. Outcomes of the new civil cases remain ahead.

Citizenship carries duties as well as rights. When the application file is built on lies about rape, child abuse, identity theft, or a living spouse declared dead, the proper response is a courtroom, not a shrug. The Justice Department has opened those cases. Courts will decide whether the grants stand.