A Mexican-born man who became a U.S. citizen in 2009 had his citizenship revoked by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Thursday after it was determined that he failed to disclose his previous involvement in a drug trade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
During his naturalization proceedings, the U.S. Department of Justice said that Melchor Munoz, also known as Melchor Munoz-Correa, concealed that he had previously been involved in a drug trade leading to his guilty plea in 2012 of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana.
Officials said that Munoz had admitted to distributing an average of 80 pounds of marijuana on dozens of occasions between 2008 and 2010, and kept about 400 to 500 pounds of marijuana, zip-lock bags of methamphetamine, and blocks of cocaine on hand most of the time.
The issue, however, was whether Munoz’ drug activity was before or after he became a U.S. citizen.
Officials claimed Munoz said he began to traffic marijuana as early as late 2008. But in the denaturalization case, he said he was mistaken when he made those statements, and then testified at his denaturalization trial that he began drug trafficking only after becoming a U.S. citizen.
The court, however, didn’t find that testimony credible and said that “Munoz was evasive and did not answer questions directly.”
The court eventually found that “the government has proven by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence that Munoz engaged in drug trafficking in 2008, just as he stated under oath at his change-of-plea hearing.”
His citizenship was then revoked, and he was ordered to surrender his certificate of naturalization, his U.S. passport, and any other documents indicating his previous United States citizenship.
Florida man also stripped of citizenship in COVID-19 fraud scheme
Earlier this week, a Haitian-born man was also stripped of his U.S. citizenship after a federal judge found he defrauded COVID-19 relief programs out of millions of dollars and lied during the naturalization process.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith ordered the revocation of citizenship for Joff Stenn Wroy Philossaint, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, after it was determined that he illegally obtained his citizenship by making false statements to immigration officials.
Federal officials said that he applied for U.S. citizenship in February 202, before the fraud began.
Then, during a sworn naturalization interview in 2020, he allegedly concealed his involvement in the scheme. He was then granted citizenship in 2021.
Philossaint was later charged in 2022 and sentenced to prison in 2023. And in February of this year, a federal court granted a motion to revoke his citizenship,
