(The Center Square) – Federal law prohibits foreign nationals, including convicted felons and those who lie on their immigration applications, from becoming U.S. citizens, a federal judge in south Texas has affirmed. It also requires citizenship to be revoked under certain conditions.
Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. granted a request to revoke the citizenship of a Mexican national and child sex offender brought by the first Trump administration. The ruling ended years of litigation, effectively denying any chance of appeal.
Rodriguez, presiding over the Southern District of Texas McAllen Division, granted a Department of Justice request to revoke the U.S. citizenship of Carlos Noe Gallegos, a Mexican national who sexually assaulted a child under age 14.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the ruling, saying, “American citizenship is a privilege that this child-abusing monster never should have been able to attain. We will continue ensuring that anyone who conceals such conduct while obtaining naturalization is found out and stripped of their citizenship.”
The case dates to immigration fraud perpetrated under the Obama administration, identified by the first Trump administration and prosecuted by the Biden administration.
Gallegos was admitted to the U.S. in 1998 as a “temporary visitor for pleasure, nonimmigrant classification B-2,” court filings show.
Within three years, he married a U.S. citizen and applied for permanent resident status. Roughly four years later, his application was granted and his immigration status was adjusted to “permanent resident with no conditions,” according to court records.
In March 2007, he sexually assaulted a child under age 14. In October 2009, he applied for naturalization and didn’t disclose the crime. Question 15 of the citizenship application asks applicants if they “ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested.” Gallegos’ response was “no.” By February 2010, his application was approved; he took his citizenship oath the next month, according to federal records.
By 2016, Gallegos was indicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child for the crime he committed two years before he applied for naturalization. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence of six years community supervision, court documents show.
The DOJ then filed a Rule 12(c) motion to revoke his naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a). The statute states, “It shall be the duty of the United States attorneys for the respective districts, upon affidavit showing good cause therefor, to institute proceedings” to revoke citizenship when the “certificate of naturalization [was] illegally procured or … procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”
The DOJ argued Gallegos “illegally procured his citizenship because when he applied for naturalization, he did not meet the statutory requirement for good moral character.”
“Procuring naturalization illegally simply means that the person was not eligible for naturalization in the first place,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services explains. “A person is subject to revocation of naturalization if there is deliberate deceit on the part of the person in misrepresenting or failing to disclose a material fact or facts on his or her naturalization application and subsequent examination.”
Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from becoming U.S. citizens if they’ve been convicted of aggravated felonies, including: murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, money laundering, explosive materials and firearms offenses, kidnapping, child pornography, racketeering and gambling, prostitution, gathering and transmitting classified information, alien smuggling, passport and document fraud, bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, obstruction of justice, perjury, failure to appear for an immigration hearing, among others, USCIS explains.
Federal law also requires illegal foreign nationals convicted of such crimes be deported.
The court repeatedly stayed the first Trump administration’s lawsuit against Gallegos “to enable Gallegos to collaterally attack his state court conviction,” the ruling states. In November 2022, a Court of Appeals of Texas affirmed the trial court’s denial of Gallegos’ challenge. Both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
Under the Biden administration, in August 2024, “after Gallegos exhausted his avenues for collateral attack, the United States moved for judgment on the pleadings,” Rodriguez wrote.
He ruled that Gallegos’ child sex crime conviction “represents a crime involving moral turpitude” and “adversely reflects upon his moral character” in violation of federal law.
“Moral turpitude refers generally to conduct that shocks the public conscience as being inherently base, vile, or depraved, and contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed between persons or to society in general,” he explained, citing a 2021 Fifth Circuit case.
“As a result, the undisputed facts demonstrate clearly, unequivocally, and convincingly that Gallegos was ineligible for naturalization when he obtained approval of his application. He thus illegally procured his naturalization, and the Government is entitled to the relief it requests” under federal law, Rodriguez concluded.
