Texas federal court denaturalizes Mexican immigrant convicted of child sexual assault

A federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, McAllen Division, has issued an order revoking the US citizenship of Carlos Noe Gallegos, finding that he unlawfully obtained naturalization by concealing a prior child sexual assault and a related conviction during the naturalization process.

According to the court’s findings, Gallegos sexually assaulted a child under the age of 14 before he became a US citizen. Years after he was naturalized during the Obama administration, he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault and was placed on community supervision. The government argued that Gallegos’s underlying conduct and his failure to disclose material facts during his naturalization process warranted denaturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1451, the statute that authorizes revocation of citizenship that was illegally procured or obtained through concealment or misrepresentation.

“American citizenship is a privilege that this child-abusing monster never should have been able to attain,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will continue ensuring that anyone who conceals such conduct while obtaining naturalization is found out and stripped of their citizenship.”

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division also emphasized the administration’s stance on denaturalization actions involving serious crimes against children. “Safekeeping the integrity of our society demands that this Administration be allowed to denaturalize monsters who sexually abuse our children,” Shumate said.

In its order, the Southern District of Texas concluded that Gallegos’s “willful and knowing sexual contact with a child,” as described under Texas Penal Code §§ 22.021(b)(1) and 22.011(c)(1), constituted a crime involving moral turpitude, a category of offenses that can render a person ineligible for naturalization. The court found that because the conduct reflected negatively on his moral character, Gallegos was not legally eligible to naturalize at the time he did, and therefore his citizenship was “illegally procured.”