The U.S. government is seeking to strip an Indian American man in Kansas of his naturalized citizenship, alleging that he used different identities and provided false information about his immigration history before becoming a U.S. citizen.
The civil denaturalization lawsuit was filed August 7 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas against Harinder Singh, who prosecutors say has also used the names Harinder Singh Sanghera and Rushpal Singh. The government is asking a federal court to revoke his citizenship and invalidate his naturalization certificate.
The case centers on Singh’s immigration history dating back more than three decades.
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According to the government’s complaint, immigration officials encountered Singh at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in 1991. At the time, authorities say, he identified himself as Rushpal Singh.
An immigration judge ordered him deported in August 1995, and the Board of Immigration Appeals later upheld that decision. The government says it has found no record indicating that Singh actually departed the country following the deportation order.
Prosecutors allege that Singh later sought to establish a new immigration record. In June 1996, he submitted an immigration application using the name Harinder Singh, according to the lawsuit.
The government claims that information in the second application differed from the details provided under the Rushpal Singh identity. Among the details allegedly changed were his date of birth, date of entry into the United States and the circumstances supporting his immigration claim.
The application was eventually approved, allowing Singh to continue his immigration process under the Harinder Singh identity.
By October 2000, he had obtained lawful permanent resident status. He later applied for U.S. citizenship using that identity and became a naturalized citizen in 2008.
The government now alleges that Singh failed to disclose his previous immigration history when seeking naturalization. Prosecutors argue that the alleged omissions and misrepresentations were significant enough to make his citizenship invalid under federal immigration law.
Federal law allows the government to pursue denaturalization when citizenship was obtained illegally or through the concealment of an important fact or intentional misrepresentation.
The lawsuit asks the court to undo Singh’s naturalization and cancel his citizenship certificate.
The case is part of a broader increase in denaturalization actions by the Justice Department. The department said it has filed about 123 civil denaturalization complaints since January 20, 2025, describing that figure as the highest number recorded in the department’s history.