A federal judge has revoked the U.S. citizenship of a Liberian-born man who concealed his criminal conduct during the naturalization process.
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Cyril Domaquik Clemens, 72, was sentenced Sept. 17 after pleading guilty in June to naturalization fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a press release. He was sentenced to time served and ordered to leave the country.
U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan also revoked Clemens’ naturalized citizenship.
Clemens became a naturalized citizen in 2021. On his naturalization application and in an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he denied ever trying to force someone into sexual conduct, and denied committing a crime for which he had not been arrested, according to the release.
Those statements were false, prosecutors said. Clemens was not arrested until after he became a citizen.
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In April 2023, Clemens pleaded guilty in Durham County Superior Court to three counts of indecent liberties with a child. He admitted to sexually molesting a girl for 11 years, beginning when the child was 4, the DOJ said.
Immigration officials were not aware of Clemens’ crimes, according to a previous report. He was arrested last year on the naturalization fraud charges.
The state court sentenced him to between one year and four months and two years and five months in prison and ordered him to register as a sex offender, according to the release.
The federal case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was part of Operation False Haven, which the DOJ described as an initiative targeting people who fraudulently obtain immigration benefits after completing serious crimes.
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