Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Convicted Rapist

BROOKLYN, NY — Today, the United States filed a denaturalization action in the Eastern District of New York against Gurmeet Singh, a native of India, who, according to the Department of Justice’s Complaint, concealed and misrepresented in his naturalization application that he had previously kidnapped and sexual assaulted a female passenger of his taxicab. After his passenger fell asleep in the backseat, he drove her to a side street and the passenger awoke to find Singh on top of her with a knife to her throat, telling her to stop resisting if she wanted to live. Singh then bound and gagged her, blindfolded her, removed her clothes, and raped her.

Singh concealed these acts throughout his naturalization proceedings and naturalized as a U.S. citizen on Oct. 19, 2011. After naturalizing, Singh was convicted in May 2014 in New York of Rape in the First Degree and Kidnapping in the Second Degree as a Sexually Motivated Felony and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division announced the filing of the civil complaint.

“This Department of Justice will continue to strip citizenship from those who commit heinous crimes and conceal them during the naturalization process,” stated Attorney General Bondi.  “American citizenship is a great and sacred privilege that must be earned honestly.

“The defendant in this case secured U.S. citizenship through deceit, and on the heels of committing the heinous crimes of rape and kidnapping,” stated United States Attorney Nocella.  “This case, brought to strip the defendant of citizenship that he did not earn and to which he was not entitled, demonstrates our Office’s commitment to protecting the American people and defending the sanctity of U.S. citizenship.”

“This individual’s vile acts prove that he should not have been granted U.S. citizenship,” stated Assistant Attorney General Shumate.  “Singh entered our country through family-based immigration laws, then committed horrible crimes before lying about them to become a U.S. citizen. We will now correct this injustice.”

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and his certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.

This case was investigated by the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The litigation is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Layaliza Soloveichik of the Eastern District of New York with Trial Attorney Christopher Lyerla and reviewed by John Inkeles, Chief of the Affirmative Litigation Unit of the Office of Immigration Litigation.

The claims made in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.