Washington, D.C., USA: The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated a civil action against an Indian-origin man accused of concealing a deportation order and using a false identity to obtain American citizenship.
The legal complaint, filed on September 24, targets Gurdev Singh Sohal—also known as Dev Singh and Boota Singh Sundu—who became a U.S. citizen in 2005. Authorities claim Sohal obtained citizenship by misrepresenting his identity and hiding critical immigration history.
According to the Justice Department, Sohal was previously ordered deported in 1994 under the name Dev Singh. Rather than comply, he assumed a new identity, including a different name, date of birth, and entry date, and later applied for naturalization as Gurdev Sohal. Investigators say he deliberately withheld information about his previous immigration record during the citizenship process.
A detailed fingerprint examination in February 2020 confirmed that both identities belonged to the same individual. This identification was only possible after the Department of Homeland Security digitized older fingerprint records, enabling modern forensic comparison.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, from the Civil Division, emphasised, “Those who lie to the government or conceal their identity to obtain naturalisation will be found, and their fraudulently acquired citizenship will be revoked.”
The complaint asserts that Sohal’s citizenship was obtained unlawfully, as he was never legally admitted for permanent residency. It also charges that his false statements compromised his ability to demonstrate the “good moral character” required for naturalisation. A further count accuses him of willfully misrepresenting and hiding his prior identity and immigration history.
This represents the ninth denaturalization action the Justice Department has filed since January 20. The case is part of the Historic Fingerprint Enrollment project, a collaborative effort between the Justice Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to detect past immigration fraud through digitised records.
The case is being managed by the Office of Immigration Litigation’s General Litigation and Appeals Section, Affirmative Litigation Unit, with assistance from USCIS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
