An Indian man became a U.S. citizen in 2005 and changed his identity, but was caught using fingerprints in 2020.
The Justice Department has filed a civil denaturalization complaint against an Indian-American man who changed his status to obtain U.S. citizenship. A federal judge ruled in favor of the Justice Department and ordered the citizenship of a man known as an immigration and identity fraudster to be revoked.Gurdev Singh Sohal, also known as Dev Singh and Boota Singh Sundu, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005. After living continuously in the United States for 3-5 years with a green card, you can become a U.S. citizen.But Sohal was ordered deported in 1994, when he went by his old name, Dev Singh. Instead of leaving the United States, he adopted a new identity, a new date of birth, a new date of entry into the United States, and became Sohar with a completely new background. Sohal was naturalized under a new assumed identity. Sohal concealed his previous immigration history as Dev Singh in any immigration applications or proceedings in his new identity.In 2020, fingerprint analysts confirmed that the two were the same person.On April 13, the court ruled that Sohal illegally obtained U.S. citizenship because his illegal conduct in concealing his previous identity prevented him from proving that he had the good moral character required for naturalization.“This case demonstrates the strength and commitment of this administration to ensuring the sanctity of American citizenship,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The collaboration between the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security exemplifies the strong partnership that protects the nation from immigration and identity fraud.”Sohal’s case is the ninth denaturalization lawsuit since the department filed the case on January 20, 2025.
