Indian American man accused of exploiting U.S. immigration system

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Indian American Baljinder Singh, 43, is to be denaturalized as a citizen for lying to immigration officials about his identity.

Singh arrived to the United States from Hong Kong on Sept. 25, 1991 at San Francisco International Airport with no documentation of his identification and told the immigration officers that he was Davinder Singh.

After he didn’t show up for an immigration hearing, he was ordered a deportation on Jan. 7, 1992 however, four weeks later he filed for asylum under the name Baljinder Singh and claimed to be a native of India who entered the U.S. without inspection.

Singh then abandoned the application after he married a U.S. citizen who filed a visa petition on his behalf and was naturalized under the name Baljinder Singh on July 29, 2006 and in now accused of illegal procurement of naturalization by not being lawfully admitted for permanent residence, illegal procurement of naturalization due to lack of good moral characters and procurement of U.S. citizenship with concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.

“The Justice Department is committed to preserving the integrity of our nation’s immigration system, and in particular, the asylum and naturalization processes,” acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division told MyCentralJersey.com.

Readler added that two other men were also accused of fraudulently obtaining a U.S. citizenship and exploiting the immigration system along with Singh, one from Florida and one from Connecticut.

“The filing of these cases sends a clear message to immigration fraudsters: If you break our immigration laws, we will prosecute you and denaturalize you,” Readler said.

According to the MyCentralJersey.com report, the cases were referred to the U.S. Department of Justice as part of Operation Janus, a Department of Homeland Security initiative that identified about 315,000 cases where fingerprint data was missing from the central digital fingerprint repository possibly in an effort to circumvent criminal records and other background checks in the naturalization process.

“Naturalization is one of the most sacred honors bestowed by our nation,” said Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director James W. McCament. “USCIS takes great care and responsibility in determining to refer a case for denaturalization proceedings.

“We do so to send the strong message that individuals who seek to defraud the United States by obtaining naturalization unlawfully will be targeted to have their U.S. citizenship stripped,” he added.