Trump Administration Ramps Up Efforts to Denaturalize Those Who Gained U.S. Citizenship by Concealing Crimes and Committing Fraud
The Department of Justice announced today that it has secured the denaturalization of two individuals who obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud and sued to revoke the citizenship of a third person that secured naturalization by marriage fraud.
“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.”
Ukrainian Arms Smuggler Concealed Conspiracy to Smuggle Firearms Parts Abroad
On March 23, the Justice Department secured the denaturalization of Vladimir Volgaev, a native of Ukraine who concealed and misrepresented his involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle over a thousand firearms components out of the United States and ship them to foreign markets.
“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.”
Starting in 2011, Volgaev engaged in the clandestine purchase, packaging and smuggling of firearm components to individuals in Ukraine and Italy. Also, beginning in 2013, Volgaev engaged in federal housing benefits fraud by underreporting his assets and income on applications for federal housing benefits. A federal court convicted him of Smuggling Goods from the United States and Theft of Government Money or Property in 2020, after he had naturalized as a U.S. citizen on January 11, 2016.
On Sept. 30, 2025, the Justice Department filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking Volgaev’s denaturalization based on his crimes and his failure to disclose them during his naturalization process.
On March 23, the court entered an order revoking Volgaev’s U.S. citizenship. The court held that Volgaev committed unlawful acts during the period prior to his naturalization in which he was required to show good moral character, thus making him ineligible for naturalization. Also, the court found that Volgaev provided false testimony regarding his criminal background and procured his U.S. citizenship by willfully misrepresenting these facts.
This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christopher Lyerla of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation, Affirmative Litigation Unit, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Felix Romero and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.
Miami-Dade Resident Was Convicted of Swindling Over $6 Million In Medicare Claims
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued an order on March 24 revoking the 2017 naturalization of Mirelys Cabrera Diaz, a native of Cuba and resident of Hialeah, Florida. Cabrera Diaz illegally procured her citizenship because she committed unlawful acts — namely a health care fraud conspiracy — before she naturalized that disqualified her from United States citizenship.
In 2019, Cabrera Diaz, then 42, was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida of conspiring to commit health care fraud. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 29 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of over $6 million. When she pleaded guilty, she admitted that she willfully conspired to commit health care fraud in the years before she became a United States citizen. She specifically admitted that, between August 2011 and March 2014, she and her co-conspirators paid kickbacks to patient recruiters for referring fraudulent prescriptions to the pharmacy where she worked. She admitted to maintaining a log of how much money was owed to each recruiter for fraudulent prescriptions. She also admitted that she was aware that the pharmacy was submitting reimbursement claims for the fraudulent prescriptions to the Medicare Part D program, for which the government paid over $6 million in reimbursements for prescription drugs that were not dispensed.
The U.S. district court held that Cabrera Diaz illegally procured her naturalization. Among the requirements for naturalization, Cabrera Diaz was required to show that she was a person of good moral character during the “statutory period” from five years before she applied for naturalization until she took the oath of citizenship. The court concluded that she could not establish the required good moral character for naturalization because she conspired to commit health care fraud, which reflected adversely on her moral character, and there were no extenuating circumstances to excuse her actions.
The case was investigated by ICE and litigated by the Affirmative Litigation Unit of the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation.
Justice Department Sues to Revoke U.S. Citizenship Because Of Immigration Fraud
In U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Justice Department filed a civil denaturalization complaint on March 17 against Alec Nasreddine Kassir, also known as Alec Kassir and Ali Nasreddine Kassir. Kassir is a native of Lebanon and resident of Miami.
The United States seeks an order revoking Kassir’s naturalization based on his false statements made under penalty of perjury on his naturalization application and under oath in his naturalization interview. Kassir falsely represented that he had been living with a U.S. citizen spouse, during the three years immediately preceding the filing of his naturalization application in March 2010.
On Nov. 14, 2018, he pleaded guilty to passport fraud in the Southern District of Florida. In his criminal proceedings, Kassir admitted that he obtained his U.S. passport through the fraudulent procurement of his naturalization. Specifically, he admitted that he was not living in martial union — or even in the same state — with his purported U.S. citizen spouse; rather, but they separated in 2009 and Kassir moved to Florida. Kassir’s immigration fraud was uncovered during an investigation into his trafficking of counterfeit goods after he naturalized, for which he was convicted of conspiring to commit money laundering.
The complaint alleges that Kassir should be denaturalized for three reasons. First, he illegally procured U.S. citizenship because he was not living in marital union with his U.S. citizen spouse for the three years before he applied for naturalization as required by statute. Second, he illegally procured naturalization because he was statutorily barred from showing that he was a person of good moral character during the statutory period of his naturalization. He was unable to demonstrate good moral character because he falsely testified under oath at his naturalization interview that he was living in Michigan, when, in fact, he had moved to Florida. Third, he procured his naturalization by concealing his separation from his U.S. citizen spouse and his move to Florida.
The case was investigated by ICE-HSI and will be litigated by the Affirmative Litigation Unit of the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
The claims made in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
