A U.S. federal judge has sentenced and revoked the citizenship of a 72-year-old Liberian national, Cyril Domaquik Clemens, after information surfaced that he molested a four-year-old over a period of 10 years, prior to his naturalisation.

U.S. attorney Ellis Boyle described Mr Clemens as a disgusting child molester who should get out of America and stay out.

Prosecutors proved that Mr Clemens committed perjury in his naturalisation application where he lied and ticked “no” to the boxes of sexual misconduct questions on whether he ever raped anyone or committed an offence that he had not yet been arrested for.

He ticked “No” to these questions: “Were you EVER involved in any way with any of the following…[f]orcing or trying to force, someone to have any kind of sexual contact or relations?” and “Have you EVER committed, assisted in committing, or attempted to commit, a crime or offense for which you were NOT arrested?”

“That was a lie,” a statement by the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

His lie was not immediately detected and he swore the oath of U.S.citizenship in February 2021.

In April 2023, Mr Clemens’s citizenship was on shaky ground after he pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent liberties with a child. He confessed to molesting a four-year-old child between November 2011 to March 2022.

Prosecutors found he lied to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in his naturalisation form, particularly that he was actively raping a child at the time of his application.

Judge Louise W. Flanagan subsequently sentenced Mr Clemens to time served, ranging from 16 months to 29 months. The judge further ordered him to register as a sex offender.

His citizenship had been rescinded and he is expected to self-deport and cover the cost of his flight.

“Clemens committed these crimes before he lied to CIS but was not arrested until after he naturalized,” the statement by the U.S. assistant attorney said. “Immigration officials were unaware of his crimes prior to granting him the undeserved honour of citizenship.”

Mr Clemens’s sentence and citizenship revocation was a success case of Operation False Haven, an initiative of the Donald Trump administration targeting paedophiles who enjoy immigration benefits.

Ms Boyle stated, “This disgusting child predator sexually molested a 4-year-old little girl in the United States while he tried to become a citizen. For over a decade that little girl suffered from his depraved cruelty.

“This administration takes immigration fraud deadly serious, especially for all of the illegals and noncitizen spider child molester. Get out of America and stay out.”