Baljinder Singh becomes first Indian American to be stripped of US citizenship

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NEW YORK – Baljinder Singh, 43, from Carteret, New Jersey is the first naturalized Indian American citizen to be stripped of his U.S. citizenship under the Trump administration.

This is the first case under a government initiative which is designed to clamp down on fraudulent immigration, reported AFP.

According to the Justice Department, Singh flew into San Francisco in 1991 with no travel documents or proof of identity and gave his name as Davinder Singh,

He then dodged a subsequent court hearing, ordering him to be deported in January 1992 but a month later he filed for asylum under the name Baljinder Singh, which he then abandoned after getting married to his American wife in 2006, automatically becoming a naturalized citizen.

AFP reported that last Friday, a federal judge in New Jersey revoked his naturalization, reverting him back to lawful permanent resident, which means that he can be subject to removal proceedings.

“I hope this case, and those to follow, send a loud message that attempting to fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship will not be tolerated,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna said.

The Justice Department said that this was the first denaturalization under Operation Janus, a long-running Department of Homeland Security initiative against fraudulent immigration and the government did file a complaint against Singh last September.

Last September the initiative identified 315,000 cases where fingerprint data was missing, raising concerns about the naturalization process, the USCIS plans to prosecute 1,600 other cases.

Since he took charge last year, President Donald Trump has majorly cracked down on illegal immigration.