A man who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador has been denaturalized after repeatedly raping his stepdaughter in Montgomery County and lying about his crimes, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
Jorge Antonio Graciano Lara raped his stepdaughter, who was younger than 14 at the time, on “several occasions” between 2012 and 2016 at their home in Rockville, the DOJ said. Graciano Lara threatened the victim against speaking out about the abuse — which court documents allege occurred while her mother was at work — by telling her the family would have to return to El Salvador.
Graciano Lara, who entered the U.S. in 1991, became a lawful permanent resident in 1997 and was granted American citizenship in 2015 after lying about his crimes on his naturalization application, according to the DOJ.
Graciano Lara was convicted of second-degree rape in 2017 after admitting to the abuse as part of a plea deal, which sentenced him to “20 years’ incarceration with all but 10 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation.”
In November, the DOJ sued to take away Graciano Lara’s citizenship, which was ordered Sept. 15 by a Maryland federal judge. The order concluded that he provided “false testimony for the purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit, and that he procured his naturalization by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate weighed in on the order in a DOJ news release Tuesday.
“American citizenship is a sacred privilege that this monster should never have obtained,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will continue working to denaturalize criminals like these who lie about their past actions to take advantage of our immigration system.”
“Sex offenders who try to naturalize by hiding their unlawful acts from immigration officials must learn that if the United States finds out, the government will come after their citizenship,” said Shumate, of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
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