CANTON, OHIO — A federal grand jury has indicted Yousif Abdulraouf Alhallaq, 46, a former medical doctor, for naturalization fraud after he allegedly provided false information on a U.S. citizenship application and during a subsequent immigration interview, the Department of Justice announced.
Alhallaq, originally born in Kuwait and a Jordanian citizen, entered the United States in 2006 on an H1B visa. He later became a permanent resident in 2011, and by 2012, he was practicing medicine in Northeast Ohio.
However, prosecutors say that in 2014, Alhallaq intentionally poisoned a pregnant woman—who was carrying his child—in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy without her knowledge. He was later charged in March 2021 with attempted murder and felonious assault in Stark County and pleaded guilty in September 2021, receiving a four-year prison sentence.
Fraudulent Naturalization Process
Despite the 2014 incident, Alhallaq submitted a Form N-400 application for naturalization in late 2017, in which he falsely answered “no” to several critical questions, including:
14C: Were you ever involved in any way with killing or trying to kill someone?
14D: Were you ever involved in any way with badly hurting, or trying to hurt a person on purpose?
22: Have you ever committed, assisted in committing, or attempted to commit a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?
In March 2018, during his in-person immigration interview, he reaffirmed those false answers under oath.
He was granted U.S. citizenship on May 4, 2018, during a naturalization ceremony in Stark County.
Federal Indictment and Possible Penalties
The indictment alleges that Alhallaq knowingly lied on his application and to an immigration officer despite having committed serious criminal offenses in 2014. If convicted of naturalization fraud, Alhallaq faces up to 10 years in federal prison. The court will determine the final sentence based on a variety of case-specific factors.
The Department of Justice emphasized that the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and is often less than the maximum allowed.
