A federal grand jury indicted a man, accusing him of concealing sexual crimes against a child when he applied for U.S. citizenship. The defendant is charged with naturalization fraud.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendant pleaded guilty in North Carolina state court in February 2024 to three counts of Taking Indecent Liberties with a Child. That plea landed him a state prison sentence of 32 to 58 months and a 30-year sex offender registration requirement.
The case involves alleged fraud in the naturalization process.
The Federal Program Behind the Case
The indictment traces back to “Operation False Haven,” a federal initiative that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations division launched in late 2019. The program cross-references state sex offender and criminal databases against historical naturalization records to catch people who concealed disqualifying crimes when they took the citizenship oath, the department's report notes.
The initiative began as a small pilot project in the fall of 2019, and by late 2022 it had already produced significant results nationwide. The operation had generated 44 criminal cases, 19 civil cases, 12 judicial revocations of citizenship, 7 judicial removal orders, and more than 120 felony charges across the country as of that point.
Three Civil Cases Rely on Fingerprints, Not Convictions
Alongside the criminal indictment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina filed three separate civil denaturalization complaints between June and August 2026.
The case includes civil denaturalization and criminal naturalization fraud proceedings.
Russ Ferguson Frames the Stakes
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson, who leads the Western District of North Carolina, framed the cases as an affront to the naturalization process itself. “It is a proud day for most people when they become a naturalized citizen of this great country,” Ferguson said. “Those who commit fraud to cheat their way into American citizenship take that opportunity from someone else.”
The announcement, posted by U.S. Attorney WDNC, credited U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division with involvement in both the criminal indictment and the civil denaturalization matters.
, credited U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division with involvement in both the criminal indictment and the civil denaturalization matters. The office noted it does not collect comments or messages through its account.
Precedent in Western North Carolina Courts
Ghaley's case follows a pattern of similar prosecutions already run through Western District courts. Former Henderson County resident Herbert Leonel Diaz was identified in a case involving alleged abuse.
A federal jury convicted Gregory Maxwell Palmer, a naturalized citizen from Jamaica living in Gastonia, of naturalization fraud after a trial. Palmer had failed to disclose a 2008 child sexual abuse offense on his 2011 naturalization application.
Parallel enforcement has also played out in North Carolina's Eastern District. In February, federal prosecutors there revoked the citizenship of Salvadoran national Isidro Arcenio Alvarado under Operation False Haven, after he admitted to concealing child sex crimes committed between 2019 and 2021 during his October 2022 naturalization interview. Alvarado was ordered deported upon completing his state sentence, a case Hoodline covered in a February report on his denaturalization. Hoodline had earlier reported on Alvarado's original 2025 indictment as well.
It remains unclear whether Ghaley's federal trial will proceed before or after he completes his current state prison sentence, and the identities and case numbers behind the three civil denaturalization complaints have not been made public.
