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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 12 IMMIGRATION May 15, 2026 Justice Department Moves To Denaturalize 12 Individuals, Including One Of Indian Origin T he Department of Justice announced on May 8, 2026, that it filed denaturalization actions in various U.S. district courts against 12 individuals accused of serious offenses—including providing material support to a terrorist group, committing war crimes, and sexually abusing a minor. (One of the 12 men is of Indian Origin.) Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a natural- ized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and cer- tificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation. “Individuals implicated in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is quoted saying in the press release. “The Trump adminis- tration is taking action to correct these egregious viola- tions of our immigration system. Those who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law.” “This Department of Justice continues to file denatu- ralization actions at record speeds to restore integrity in our naturalization process,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The disturbing criminal histories confirm these individuals should have never received the privilege of U.S. citizenship. We remain committed to leveraging every tool available under the law to pursue those who obtain their U.S. citizenship unlawfully.” The men who range in age from 28 to 75, trace their origin from numerous countries around the world, and one of them, Debashis Ghosh, 62, is from India. According to the information provided in the Justice Department press release: “Before Debashis Ghosh natu- ralized, he conspired to defraud investors of $2.5 million intended for the construction of an aircraft maintenance facility. After naturalizing, Ghosh, a native of India, continued the fraudulent scheme, misrepresenting the location and safekeeping of the investor funding. But in his 2012 naturalization application and interview, Ghosh claimed that he had never committed a crime or offense for which he had not arrested. (sic) The denaturaliza- tion complaint against Ghosh alleges that he is subject to denaturalization because during the period in which he was statutorily required to demonstrate good moral character, he committed a crime involving moral turpi- tude, committed unlawful acts that adversely reflected on his moral character, and falsely testified about his crime. Additionally, Ghosh willfully misrepresented the material fact of his crime during his naturalization proceedings.” These cases were prosecuted by the Justice Depart- ment’s Office of Immigration Litigation, Affirmative Litigation Unit, with assistance from USCIS, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Arizona, Southern District of Florida, Eastern District of California, District of Minnesota, Middle District of Florida, Western District of Kentucky, District of Columbia, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Southern District of Iowa, and Northern District of Illinois. The claims made in the complaints are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. PHOTO:DREAMSTIME STOCK IMAGE Immigration Reform A n Indian national was sentenced on April 21, 2026 to 41 months of imprisonment for his role as the leader of a conspiracy to defraud various telephone providers and insurance companies out of millions of dollars. He used stolen or fake identities to submit fraudulent claims for replacement cellular de- vices and then reselling those devices outside the United States, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Robert Frazer announced April 27. Dhananjay Singh, 35, an Indian national, previously pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an Information charging him with one count of con- spiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspira- cy to commit interstate transfer of stolen property. In addition to the 41 month prison term, Judge Arleo sentenced Singh to 3 years of supervised release and ordered restitution of over $10 million dollars. According to documents filed in this case and state- ments made in court: From June 2013 through June 2019, Singh was involved in a widespread scheme to defraud cellular telephone providers and insurance companies using the U.S. mail system, as well as other third-party mail carriers. Singh and his co-conspirators used stolen and fake identities to submit false claims for lost, stolen or dam- aged cellular telephones, as well as other devices, in order to obtain replacement devices. They maintained a network of mailboxes and storage units across the United States, including in New Jersey, where the replacement devices would be shipped and then held before being sold to third parties outside the United States. The scheme resulted in millions of dollars of losses to the cellular telephone providers and insur- ance companies, the press release said. U .S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ fraud detection efforts resulted in the guilty pleas of Sampath Rajidi, 51, and Sreed- har Mada, 51, to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, an April 23 press release from USCIS said. The guilty pleas were an- nouned on April 17, by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Eric Grant. Rajidi and Mada are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on July 30. Both face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to court documents, Rajidi operated two visa servicing companies, S- Team Software Inc. and Uptrend Technol- ogies LLC. As part of the business models of S-Team and Uptrend, Rajidi petitioned for H1-B specialty occupation worker visas to obtain foreign workers for tempo- rary placement with various companies. Mada was chief information officer of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources in Davis, California. Mada had supervisory authority but could not hire H1-B workers for his department without further authorization. Between June 2020 and January 2023, Rajidi and Mada conspired to submit fraudulent H-1B visa petitions for nu- merous aliens. On those petitions, Rajidi falsely represented that these aliens would be working at the University of California. Mada lent his name and the credibility of his position to support the false assertion that they would work on projects for the University of California. In reality, both Rajidi and Mada knew that the positions listed on the petitions did not exist and the aliens did not work on projects at the University of Califor- nia, the USCIS press release noted They submitted false information, knowing it would influence USCIS’ decision about granting these visas. After they successful- ly got H1-B visas for these aliens based on false employment information, they mar- keted these aliens as employees to other clients. As a result of their conspiracy, Ra- jidi and Mada gained an unfair advantage over other firms and reduced the pool of H-1B visas available to competing firms. The U.S. Department of State’s Dip- lomatic Security Service, the U.S. Im- migration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the USCIS Fraud De- tection and National Security Directorate are investigating this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Harman is prosecuting it. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consid- ering any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. By a StaffWriter By a StaffWriter Indian National Sentenced to 41 Months’ For Defrauding Telephone Providers, Insurance Companies Two Men Of Indian Origin Plead Guilty To H-1B Fraud Conspiracy Extracts From Just Department Press Release