Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) co-sponsored a bill this week that would denaturalize American citizens convicted of fraud.
The Fraud Accountability Act seeks to revoke the American citizenship of foreigners who committed fraud on or after September 30, 1996, and have not yet been prosecuted.
Anyone can be denaturalized for committing any amount of fraud, the bill says.
If noncitizens are charged with fraud, the bill would change federal law, allowing law enforcement to take them into custody without bond during the deportation process.
The Tennessee senator said people who come to America and steal from “American taxpayers by committing fraud should be deported.”
“The fraud schemes we have seen in Minnesota and across the country are a betrayal of hardworking American taxpayers, and individuals like the Somali scammers in Minnesota should be subject to both deportation and denaturalization for these crimes,” she said.
“The Fraud Accountability Act would hold these criminals accountable for robbing American taxpayers,” the senator added.
According to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Minnesota fraudsters stole an estimated $9 billion from the state’s social services system.
The White House said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 98 defendants in Minnesota fraud-related cases, with 87 percent of them being of Somali descent.
The DOJ is currently in Minnesota, looking into fraud in the state.
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze federal child care and family assistance funds to Minnesota, Colorado, Illinois, and New York due to fraud concerns.
Besides Blackburn, Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Budd (R-NC), and John Cornyn (R-TX) sponsored the bill.
Budd said, “If government programs using taxpayer dollars are not run responsibly, we must ensure those who steal taxpayer dollars are held accountable.”
Cornyn noted people who try to become wealthy at “the expense of American taxpayers should be ashamed and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
In the House, Representative Buddy Carter will be introducing the companion legislation.
“Any alien or naturalized citizen who comes to the United States to defraud American taxpayers does not deserve to be here,” he stated.
NumbersUSA, an immigration policy nonprofit, endorsed the Fraud Accountability Act.
Michael Hough, president of NumbersUSA, said America’s “current immigration system is vulnerable to fraud, and as evidenced, unsustainable numbers can overwhelm the system and impact Americans and our communities.”
“This bill holds those committing fraud against the U.S. accountable, and serves as a reminder that immigration is a privilege, not a right,” he added.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration seeks to take on 100 to 200 denaturalization cases monthly.
Between 1990 and 2017, America pursued an average of 11 denaturalization cases a year, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center said.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
