The Justice Department moved to strip U.S. citizenship from two people and filed suit to revoke a third after finding they obtained naturalization through lies, fraud, or criminal conduct, with courts and prosecutors laying out timelines, convictions, and the legal bases for denaturalization.
The Department of Justice announced denaturalization actions that followed criminal investigations and court findings showing serious misconduct before and after naturalization. Federal prosecutors pointed to crimes ranging from smuggling and housing-benefits fraud to a large Medicare fraud conspiracy and passport fraud tied to a sham marriage. These cases unfolded in multiple federal courts and involved coordinated work by ICE, HSI, and Civil Division litigators.
On March 23, a federal court entered an order revoking the citizenship of Vladimir Volgaev, a Ukraine native who allegedly funneled more than a thousand firearm components out of the United States. Prosecutors say Volgaev began clandestine purchases and shipments as early as 2011, and later underreported assets and income on federal housing benefit applications beginning in 2013. He had naturalized on January 11, 2016, and was convicted in 2020 of Smuggling Goods from the United States and Theft of Government Money or Property; the Justice Department filed a denaturalization complaint on Sept. 30, 2025.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate framed the Volgaev ruling in stark terms: “This case sends a clear message,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The United States provided Volgaev with safety, housing, and citizenship, and he returned those gains with malice, including by defrauding one of the federal agencies that provided him benefits. We will not reward this kind of behavior by allowing such an individual to retain U.S. citizenship that should not have been granted in the first place.” The court found Volgaev failed to demonstrate good moral character during the statutory period and had provided false testimony about his criminal history.
The Volgaev matter was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Lyerla of the Office of Immigration Litigation’s Affirmative Litigation Unit, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Felix Romero and ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor. Those details underscore how denaturalization proceedings are often built on criminal prosecutions and interagency investigations. Prosecutors stressed that denaturalization follows when applicants conceal disqualifying conduct during the naturalization process.
On March 24, a separate federal order stripped the 2017 citizenship of Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a Cuba native and Hialeah resident, after a court found she illegally procured naturalization because of her role in a health care fraud conspiracy. Cabrera Diaz was convicted in 2019 at age 42 of conspiring to commit health care fraud, pleaded guilty, and received a 29-month prison term plus restitution exceeding $6 million. The restitution figure tracks the reimbursements paid by the Medicare Part D program for prescriptions that prosecutors say were not actually dispensed.
Cabrera Diaz admitted the scheme ran from August 2011 through March 2014 and involved paying kickbacks to patient recruiters for fraudulent prescriptions submitted to a pharmacy where she worked. She acknowledged keeping a ledger of amounts owed to recruiters and that the pharmacy submitted reimbursement claims that resulted in more than $6 million paid by the government for drugs not provided. The district court concluded she could not meet the statutory good moral character requirement during the relevant period because of her admitted criminal conduct.
The Cabrera Diaz case was investigated by ICE and litigated by the Affirmative Litigation Unit of the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, which highlights the Civil Division’s role in using denaturalization as a remedy tied to underlying fraud or criminality. Legal teams pointed out that naturalization depends on truthful disclosure and lawful conduct during the statutory period, and that material concealment or criminal behavior can undo citizenship even after a conviction and sentence.
Separately, on March 17 the Justice Department filed a civil denaturalization complaint against Alec Nasreddine Kassir, a Lebanon native and Miami resident, alleging he lied under penalty of perjury about his living arrangements to claim the three-year spousal residency pathway to naturalization. The complaint notes Kassir applied for naturalization in March 2010 and falsely stated he had been living with a U.S. citizen spouse during the three years immediately before his application. He later pleaded guilty on Nov. 14, 2018 to passport fraud and admitted that his naturalization was fraudulently obtained because he was not living in marital union with the purported spouse.
The complaint against Kassir lists three denaturalization grounds: he allegedly procured citizenship illegally by not living in marital union with a U.S. spouse for the required period; he could not establish good moral character because he lied under oath about his residence; and he concealed his separation and move to Florida. Prosecutors linked the fraud to separate criminal conduct, including counterfeit-goods trafficking and a money-laundering conspiracy that surfaced after he naturalized.
“American citizenship is a sacred privilege — not a cheap status that can be obtained dishonestly,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “These actions reflect this Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to strip citizenship from people who conceal crimes or defraud the American people during the immigration process.” The cases will be litigated by Civil Division litigators and U.S. Attorney’s Office lawyers, with investigations led by ICE-HSI, underscoring a continued focus on denaturalization where fraud and criminality are proven.
