Indian-origin man becomes first to get stripped of US citizenship under Trump admin

An Indian-origin man, who was a naturalised citizen of the United States, has been stripped of his citizenship after it was found that he had immigrated to the country illegally, AFP reported.

This was the first case of a person losing his or her citizenship because of an initiative of the current government that is aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. The man in question, 43-year old Baljinder Singh from Carteret, New Jersey, had become a naturalised citizen when he married his American wife in 2006.

However, it came to light that Singh had arrived in the United States back in 1991 and had done so without travel documents or proof of identity, telling the authorities that his name was Dawinder Singh. He also dodged a subsequent court hearing and was ordered to be deported in January 1992.

In February that year, Singh filed for asylum under the name Baljinder Singh, which he later abandoned when he got married. A federal judge in New Jersey last Friday revoked his naturalisation, which meant he was no longer a citizen of the US but just a lawful permanent resident with a Green Card. This opened the possibility of him being subject to removal proceedings.

"I hope this case, and those to follow, send a loud message that attempting to fraudulently obtain US citizenship will not be tolerated," said US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna. The Justice Department said this was the first case of naturalisation being revoked under Operation Janus, a long-running Department of Homeland Security initiative against fraudulent immigration.