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September 18, 2014Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDocument and Benefit Fraud

Afghanistan citizen admits to immigration fraud, immediate deportation ordered

PHILADELPHIA – A man from Afghanistan pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of immigration fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison, which U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell suspended for immediate deportation. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Philadelphia Police Department.

Hayatullah Dawari, 62, of Philadelphia, is an Afghanistan national, who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States on or about Nov. 11, 2008. He applied for U.S. citizenship in November 2013. In his application for U.S. citizenship, Dawari answered “No” to the question, “Have you ever been a member of or associated with any organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society, or similar group in the United States or in any other place?” Dawari admitted in court that his answer to the question was false, in that it failed to disclose his prior relationship with Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (“HIG”), an anti-western insurgent group active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As part of Dawari’s guilty plea, the parties stipulated that he would be sentenced to two years in prison, which was suspended, accompanied by an order requiring the defendant’s transfer into immigration custody for uncontested removal from the United States. The defendant also agreed to relinquish his status as a lawful permanent resident, and he is now rendered permanently inadmissible to the United States.

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