The government of President Donald Trump has officially announced plans to revoke the citizenship of 17 Americans convicted of sexual abuse of a minor, wire and bank fraud, and distributing prescription drugs wholesale without a licence.

In a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the move reaffirms that when criminal aliens exploit the naturalisation process by breaking the law, there are consequences.

“Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters. Gaining U.S. citizenship is a privilege and under the steadfast leadership of President Trump, this Department of Justice maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process,” Mr Blanche said.

He added, “We continue to work around the clock with our interagency partners to make sure U.S. citizenship is granted to those who truly deserve it.”

The names of those for whom the DoJ has filed denaturalisation proceedings are:

Leidys Delmas Garcia, 54, a Cuban convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

The U.S. seeks an order revoking Ms Garcia’s naturalisation based on her admission during criminal proceedings that she and her co-conspirators established and operated 30 physical therapy clinics in Florida that fraudulently billed commercial insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield approximately $36,728,595 for physical therapy services that were not medically necessary and/or were never provided.

Jean Claude Alfred, 68, a Haitian who naturalised as a U.S. citizen in 1994. Beginning in September 1993, approximately one month before filing his naturalisation application, Mr Alfred repeatedly sexually abused his minor daughter and continued that conduct during the pendency of his naturalisation proceedings.

Andrea Marroquin, 44, a Colombian and daughter of a major Colombian drug trafficker, inherited his money when he died. She obtained permanent residence in the United States by concealing her bigamous marriage to a U.S. citizen. Between 2003 and 2011, she conspired to engage in wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, using her late father’s drug money to finance fraudulent real estate transactions in Miami, Florida.

She became a naturalised citizen in 2009 by concealing her crimes.

Maria Lourdes Montoya, 63, a Mexican who misrepresented her husband’s identity to secure permanent residence and later citizenship. In support of both her application for permanent residence and naturalisation, Ms Montoya represented herself as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, Gilberto Montoya. However, Ms Montoya was never married to Gilberto Montoya, who died decades earlier.

Tahir Lekaj, 43, a Yugoslavian who applied for naturalisation in 2004. Mr Lekaj stated in his application that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. He later repeated that claim orally and under oath during his naturalisation interview. His application was approved, and he naturalised in May 2005. However, in 2022, the State of Connecticut convicted Mr Lekaj on two counts of sexually abusing a child under the age of 15 in January 2003. Evidence presented at trial indicated that the victim was 10 years old when the abuse began.

Talman Harris, 49, a Jamaican, conspired to manipulate the price and volume of shares in publicly traded companies, causing more than $54 million to be invested in artificially controlled shares and resulting in investor losses of approximately $39 million. In 2016, after Mr Harris had naturalised, a jury found him guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. The fraudulent wire transfers and conspiracy occurred during the period in which Mr Harris was statutorily required to demonstrate good moral character to qualify for naturalisation.

Armando Mendoza, 39, a Mexican, was knowingly receiving sexually explicit images of minors as early as 2009. In his 2011 naturalisation application and interview, however, Mr Mendoza claimed that he had never committed a crime or offence for which he had not been arrested. In 2013, after he had naturalised, Mr Mendoza pleaded guilty to receiving such images.

Neeraj Sharma, 50, an Indian national, was the owner and chief executive officer of Magnavision LLC, a staffing company located in New Jersey. As an officer of Magnavision LLC, Mr Sharma signed and filed 11 fraudulent H-1B visa petitions with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Each petition contained false representations that the visa beneficiaries would be employed by a particular global financial institution and included letters on official corporate letterhead bearing forged executive signatures.

Federico Michel Fermin, 54, a native of the Dominican Republic, conspired with others to distribute more than $1.7 million worth of prescription drugs wholesale without a licence. As part of the criminal conspiracy, Mr Fermin altered drug packaging and caused it to be altered so that the prescription drugs distributed to pharmacies would appear to have been purchased from persons licensed to distribute them.

Abdikadir Ali Kadiye, 54, a Somali national, sought admission to the United States by filing applications under two separate identities. Mr Kadiye initially sought admission under the identity of Liban M. Degel and claimed that he was married with no children. After an immigration judge denied his application for immigration benefits, Mr Kadiye submitted a second application under the identity of Abdikadir Ali Kadiye.

Victor San Shing Kwok, 50, a Chinese national, sought admission to the United States by marrying a U.S. citizen. In his application to adjust his resident status, Mr Kwok failed to disclose the prior denial of an immigration benefit application and his pending removal order.

Louise Hunkporti, 64, a Congolese national, applied for and was denied an immigration benefit in 1995. After the denial, Ms Hunkporti adopted a new identity and submitted a falsified application using that identity. Ms Hunkporti naturalised as a U.S. citizen on March 2, 2010, under the adopted identity.

Fernando Cristancho, 69, a Colombian ordained Roman Catholic priest, entered the United States as a religious worker and then used his leadership position in the church to gain access to minor victims. In that capacity, Mr Cristancho sexually groomed and abused a minor parishioner from the age of 11 to 13.

Ronnie Price, 40, from Trinidad and Tobago, had sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 16, constituting statutory rape, a crime to which he eventually pleaded guilty.

Rodger George Gurdon, 55, a native of Jamaica, engaged in a conspiracy to steal and resell medical products from military hospitals operated by the Department of Defense. Mr Gurdon also engaged in a conspiracy to distribute and possess, with intent to distribute, at least 100 kilograms of a substance containing marijuana.

Jheromell Obejera Arcilla, 39, a native of the Philippines, began sexually abusing the 15-year-old daughter of his biological cousin, with whom he lived, prior to his naturalisation. The abuse lasted for more than a year, during which time Mr Arcilla successfully naturalised.

Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres, 40, a Cuban, was part of a larger conspiracy to defraud a tribal casino in Florida. Her husband and several others stole millions of dollars from the casino by creating false credit vouchers.