US citizenship isn’t cheap, the Department of Justice says, as it revoked the citizenship of three criminals.
Ukrainian arms smuggler Vladimir Volgaev, Cuban woman Cabrera Diaz, and Lebanese man Alec Nasreddine Kassir. All three held US citizenship until they did not obtain it, as the Donald Trump administration discovered their crime trail and stripped them of their citizenship, revoking their US citizenship, making it clear that obtaining US citizenship does not make an individual immune to punitive measures and citizenship can be revoked.
“U.S. citizenship is a sacred privilege — not a cheap status that can be obtained dishonestly,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “These actions reflect the Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to strip citizenship from people who conceal crimes or defraud the American people during the immigration process.”
Ukrainian arms smuggler Vladimir Volgaev
Beginning in 2011, Volgaev was involved in purchasing, packaging, and smuggling firearm components to individuals in Ukraine and Italy.
On September 30, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking to revoke Volgaev’s citizenship based on his crimes and failure to disclose them during the naturalization process.
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On March 23, the court issued an order revoking Volgaev’s US citizenship. The court held that Volgaev committed illegal acts during the period prior to his naturalization for which he was required to show good character, making him ineligible for citizenship.
The court also found that Volgaev provided false testimony regarding his criminal background and obtained his U.S. citizenship by intentionally misrepresenting these facts.
Cuban woman Cabrera Diaz
Mirelis Cabrera Diaz, a Cuban national and resident of Hialeah, Florida, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2017. She committed health care fraud between 2011 and 2014 before becoming naturalized. She admitted that she and her co-conspirators paid bribes to patient recruiters to refer fraudulent prescriptions to the pharmacy where she worked.The US District Court ruled that Cabrera Diaz illegally obtained her citizenship. Among the requirements for naturalization, Cabrera Díaz was required to prove that she was of good moral character during the five-year “legal period” from before submitting her application for naturalization until taking the oath of citizenship. The court concluded that she could not prove the good moral character required for naturalization because she conspired to commit health care fraud.
Lebanese criminal Alek Nasr al-Din Kassir
Kassir committed marriage fraud, in which he claimed he was living with a US citizen wife, during the three years before filing his naturalization application in March 2010. On November 14, 2018, he pleaded guilty to passport fraud in the Southern District of Florida. In his criminal proceedings, Kassir admitted that he obtained his American passport through a fraudulent naturalization process.
He admitted that he was not living in marriage – or even in the same state – with his alleged US citizen wife; Rather, they separated in 2009 and Kassir moved to Florida. A brief immigration fraud was uncovered during an investigation into his smuggling of counterfeit goods after obtaining citizenship, for which he was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
