Woman Sentenced And Denaturalized For Obtaining U.S. Citizenship By Lying To Officials

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday has sentenced Munia Parvin, a/k/a Zarrin Hoque (46, Sarasota), to 6 months in federal prison for obtaining U.S. citizenship through false and misleading representations to U.S. immigration authorities. She pleaded guilty on September 26, 2017. The Court also entered an order denaturalizing Parvin and stripping her of her United States citizenship; she is now subject to deportation to Bangladesh.

According to her plea agreement and evidence presented in court, Parvin first applied for asylum protection to remain in the United States in 1993, claiming that she had entered the United States from Bangladesh and feared persecution and arrest if she returned there. In November 1996, the INS rejected her application and ordered her to appear before an immigration judge for possible deportation proceedings. In December 1997, the immigration court allowed Parvin to depart from the United States by a set date and when she failed to do so, entered a warrant for her arrest and removal from the country.

While her case was still pending before the immigration court, Parvin assumed the new identity of Zarrin Hoque and filed for legal protection and permanent resident status in the United States using this new name and a different set of biographical data. In 2012, she applied for U.S. citizenship and ultimately became a U.S. citizen on June 4, 2012. In her paperwork and application for citizenship, Hoque denied the use of prior names, denied having been subject to an order of deportation, and denied lying to immigration authorities. Photographic and fingerprint evidence later established that Hoque and Parvin were the same person and that Parvin had lied on several parts of her citizenship application.

“When individuals lie on immigration documents, the system is severely undermined and the security of our nation is put at risk,” said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero. “Working with our USCIS partners, HSI special agents will continue to protect our immigration systems.”

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This investigation was a part of “Operation Second Look,” a nationwide initiative of the Department of Homeland Security to review the files of hundreds of persons who have been ordered deported from the United States but have not left the country as directed. The Parvin case is one of four similar investigations initiated in the Tampa Bay area. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay L. Hoffer.