President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked the U.S. citizenship of Nigerian national Vivian Chike Obichere for concealing her criminal record bordering on fraud and immigration malpractice.
Ms Obichere and a Cuban, Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres, had their U.S. citizenship revoked on October 13 and 14, respectively, for not disclosing their prior criminal activity, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered the revocation of Ms Obichere’s citizenship after investigations found she illegally procured it.
According to the DOJ, Ms Obichere has a long history of defrauding the U.S. government.
In 1992, Ms Obichere fraudulently used the name, social security number, birthplace, and birthdate of an American to secure a U.S. passport and successfully renewed that fraudulent passport in 2002. In 2003, Ms Obichere became a lawful permanent resident under her true identity, the DOJ alleged.
It further alleged that in 2012 Ms Obichere once again attempted to renew the fraudulent passport issued under her alias ‘C.C.O.’ At the same time, she also applied to naturalise under her real name.
During her naturalisation interview, Ms Obichere testified under oath that she had not used the name ‘C.C.O.’, as the DOJ alleged.
According to the DOJ, in 2013, Ms Obichere became a naturalised U.S. citizen as her scheme to defraud the U.S. government was unravelling.
In 2015, Ms Obichere was convicted of False Statement in Application and Use of Passport in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. As part of her criminal conviction, Ms Obichere admitted to the lies, as well as many others she had told the U.S. government over the years.
The process of revoking Ms Obichere’s citizenship began on July 30, when the DOJ filed a denaturalisation complaint against her. On October 7, the DOJ filed a joint motion to enter a consent judgment revoking her naturalisation.
After hearing, the court issued a judgement revoking Ms Obichere’s citizenship on October 13.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it revoked over 300,000 U.S. visas issued to foreign nationals since January 2025.
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