Latest news with #USCitizenship
Al Jazeera
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Settlers killed US citizen Sayf Musallet. Will there be justice?
Sayfollah Musallet, a Palestinian American, was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on July 11, just days before his 21st birthday. His death is one of nearly 1,000 killings involving settlers this year, and his US citizenship has helped draw rare calls for a US investigation. Could this case shift how Washington responds to settler violence in the occupied West Bank?
Reuters
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Exclusive: Brazil's Bolsonaro expects lawmaker son to seek U.S. citizenship -Reuters interview
BRASILIA, July 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro told Reuters on Friday he expects his son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, to seek U.S. citizenship instead of returning from the United States. In an interview with Reuters after federal police searches of his home and party headquarters, Bolsonaro said he has been speaking at least every other day with his son, an outspoken ally of U.S. President Donald Trump who has sought support in Washington for his father. The former president said there has been no "strategy" behind their discussions.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why should immigrants celebrate Fourth of July with Trump in charge?
Ever since witnessing 11,502 people take the oath of U.S. citizenship at Fresno State's Bulldog Stadium (now Valley Children's Stadium) in September 1996, I've chatted with many of our newest U.S. citizens about their journeys, their hopes and dreams. Our country's 249th birthday should be a day for celebrations including fireworks, picnics, outdoor outings and gratitude that we live in the world's strongest and freest nations. The American dream is what has lured people from all over the globe. The vast majority of these new Americans have contributed to our greatness. Through the years, new U.S. citizens have hailed new opportunities afforded them, including the right to vote, to seek greater employment opportunities in the federal government, or the ability to sponsor relatives overseas for a green card. Many escaped war, a tyrannical government or poverty. In 2012, Naval reservist Gilbert Rivera became a U.S. citizen on Flag Day. 'It was a duty of mine that I had to do as a citizen,' said Rivera, who joined the military after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was the last of 10 children born to immigrants from Zacatecas, México to gain U.S. citizenship. At that naturalization ceremony, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services district director Mari-Carmen Jordan, herself a naturalized citizen from México, told Rivera and more than 800 new citizens they 'are a unique thread in the fabric of our rich tapestry.' In 2019, 28-year-old Miguel Ángel Soto of Modesto was overjoyed that he would be able to vote in the following year's presidential election. In 1991, Phors Sok told The Fresno Bee of how she fled her native Cambodia on foot and sedated her 4-year-old son so his cries wouldn't alert police. She trudged more than 50 miles for three days through mud with only water for nourishment. Robbers stole all her jewelry while she waited at a refugee camp on the Thai border. The same day that Sok was among about 100 who became citizens at a ceremony at Yosemite National Park, Selma's Saleh Admed watched his 4-year-old son take the oath of naturalization and explained why his children's lives will be different from life in Yemen. 'As an American, you're No. 1 and you have the freedom to go anywhere. I want the same for my kids,' said Ahmed, who was naturalized in 1983. In 2005, Miriam García of Merced said she became naturalized so that she could vote 'because I'm not satisfied with some of the results.' 'We want to be part of this country,' 100-year-old Ignacio Villegas Arellano, a retired farmworker, told me in 2016 when he became a U.S. citizen. His 94-year-old wife became a citizen a week later. The couple had eight children, 44 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. All are U.S. citizens by choice. Many of the 11,502 who became citizens at the special ceremony that created traffic congestion around Fresno State benefited from the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act signed by President Ronald Reagan. Don't expect another monumental presidential effort to fix a broken immigration system anytime soon. Not when President Donald Trump is intent on making history with a massive deportation campaign while asking for funds to finish a border wall and asking for $170 billion in his 'Big Beautiful Bill' for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts. Not all Americans support Trump's immigration policy. More than half – 55% – of voters oppose the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. Overall support was 29%. I bring this up because of an interview this week with Samuel 'Paco' Mireles, a home solar sales representative who became a U.S. citizen in 2012. While the 58-year-old father of two is grateful to have the opportunity to make a living in this country, he does not embrace the current anti-immigrant atmosphere that Trump has unleashed. Celebrating the Fourth of July is not the same this year for Mireles and his family, who have traveled to New York or Pismo Beach to enjoy the fireworks in the past. 'There isn't much to celebrate due to the political situation the country is going through,' said Mireles, whose powerful voice is a reminder of the 15 years he spent as a news anchor with the Univision affiliate in Fresno. 'Our Latino community is being persecuted and attacked due to immigration raids.' Mireles came to the U.S. as a working journalist from the Mexican city of Morelia, Michoacán in 2004 and earned his legal residency status five years later. When he left for the U.S., he didn't sell his house, thinking it could be a safety net should things not work out. Mireles has never thought of moving back to the place he grew up. 'I don't earn much here but what I earn I'll never earn in México. That's why we're here,' said Mireles, whose relatives all remain in his homeland. Mireles loves his home country's culture, its customs, and its food. When he spoke at a naturalization ceremony in Fresno Mireles told the new citizens to take advantage of new opportunities. 'Come and lift up this country,' he said. That's a message I wish Trump and his supporters of the 'Big Beautiful Bill' would embrace. Lift up this country!
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
Man's citizenship revoked for naturalization fraud
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WJTV) – A man was sentenced to three months in prison and had his U.S. Citizenship revoked for naturalization fraud. According to court documents, Felix Aguilar-Matias, 51, was convicted of naturalization fraud after pleading guilty on February 18, 2025. Ex-federal officer admits to sex act with inmate in Yazoo City In August 2014, prosecutors said Aguilar-Matias submitted an Application for Naturalization to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). In March 2015, he was sworn in as a US citizen. However, in October 2019, he was arrested by the Bay St. Louis Police Department. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Aguilar-Matias pled guilty and was convicted of two felony offenses and admitted that his criminal acts took place between August 2010 and December 2010. He was sentenced to 20 years in custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) and currently is serving that state sentence. Agents determined that Aguilar-Matias knowingly and intentionally made fraudulent representations on his Application for Naturalization to conceal his felony conduct that occurred during a time period prior to his application for U.S. citizenship. The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Enforcement & Removal Operations investigated the case. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump's justice department issues directive to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship for civil offenses
The Trump administration has codified its efforts to strip some Americans of their US citizenship in a recently published justice department memo that directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization for naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes. The memo, published on 11 June, calls on attorneys in the department to institute civil proceedings to revoke a person's United States citizenship if an individual either 'illegally procured' naturalization or procured naturalization by 'concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation'. At the center of the move are the estimated 25 million US citizens who immigrated to the country after being born abroad, according to data from 2023 – and it lists 10 different priority categories for denaturalization. According to the memo, those subjected to civil proceedings are not entitled to an attorney like they are in criminal cases. And the government has a lighter burden of proof in civil cases than they do in criminal ones The memo claims such efforts will focus on those who are involved 'in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses … [and] naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the US'. The directive gives justice department attorneys wider discretion on when to pursue denaturalization, including in instances of lying on immigration forms, cases where there is financial fraud or medical fraud against the US or against private individuals; and cases referred by a US attorney's office or in connection with pending criminal charges. The justice department's civil rights division has been placed at the forefront of Trump's policy objectives, including ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the government as well as ending transgender treatments, among other initiatives. That comes as the US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency registered its 13th in-custody death for the fiscal year beginning in October 2024. There had been 12 such deaths during the entire fiscal year that finished at the end of September 2024. On Friday Jim Ryan, president of the University of Virginia, resigned amid an investigation by the justice department's civil rights division. The investigation took aim at the university's DEI programs and its continuing to consider race and ethnicity in various programs and scholarships. The justice department also took the unusual step in recent days of suing 15 US district attorneys in Maryland over an order blocking the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removal. The justice department's civil rights division is reportedly in disarray as its traditional mission – to combat racial discrimination after the civil rights movement – is reshaped by priorities stemming from the president's executive orders. Some 250 attorneys – or about 70% of the division's lawyers – were believed to have left the department in the time between January and the end of May, according to a recent National Public Radio (NPR) report. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The memo's focus on denaturalization comes as at least one person has been denaturalized in recent weeks. On 13 June, a judge ordered the revocation of the citizenship of Elliott Duke. Duke is a US military veteran originally from the UK who was convicted for distributing child sexual abuse material and had not disclosed the crime during the naturalization process. Immigration attorneys are concerned that denaturalization cases via civil litigation strips some rights from the individual, including rights to an attorney as well as lowering the threshold of proof, and speeding up the denaturalization process. 'It is kind of, in a way, trying to create a second class of US citizens,' said Sameera Hafiz, policy director of the Immigration Legal Resource Center, to NPR.
