The United States government has filed a civil denaturalisation case against an Indian-origin man living in Kansas, alleging that he obtained US citizenship under a false identity and concealed key details of his immigration history. According to a statement issued by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas, a civil action was filed on August 7 against Harinder Singh, also known as Harinder Singh Sanghera and Rushpal Singh, seeking to revoke his naturalised US citizenship and cancel his certificate of naturalisation.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas said that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, “a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”
According to the complaint, immigration authorities first encountered the man at New York’s JFK International Airport in 1991, where he allegedly identified himself as Rushpal Singh. The statement said that in August 1995, “an immigration judge ordered him to be deported”, a decision that was later upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas stated that the government has no record showing that Singh left the United States following the deportation order.
The complaint further alleges that in June 1996, he submitted a new immigration application under the name Harinder Singh. According to the statement, he also changed “his date of birth, date of entry into the U.S., and the factual basis for his claim.” The application was subsequently approved.
The authorities said that in October 2000, Singh obtained lawful permanent resident status under the identity of Harinder Singh. Eight years later, he became a naturalised US citizen using that identity and immigration history.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas alleged that Singh “did not disclose his prior immigration history under a different name” when applying for citizenship.
The government is now seeking to revoke his citizenship, arguing that it was obtained unlawfully through the concealment of material facts and alleged misrepresentations.
In its statement, the office said, “The U.S. government brings this civil action to revoke and set aside the order admitting the defendant’s citizenship and to cancel his certificate of naturalization.”
The department also noted that since January 20, 2025, the Justice Department has filed approximately 123 civil denaturalisation complaints, which it described as the highest number in recorded history.
