A Liberian national has been arrested after spending over a decade masquerading as a U.S. citizen, even going so far as to join the military and work as a law enforcement officer.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 45-year-old Liberian national Morris Brown was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Minneapolis on January 15 following an extensive federal investigation tied to Operation Twin Shield.
Federal authorities say Brown last entered the United States legally in 2014 on a nonimmigrant student visa, but that visa was terminated the following year after he failed to enroll in a full course of academic study, placing him out of lawful status.
Instead of departing the country as required by law, DHS officials allege Brown embarked on what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow described as a decade-long scheme of deception.
“Operation Twin Shield continues to deliver results as the Department of Homeland Security relentlessly pursues those who seek to cheat our immigration system,” said USCIS Director Joseph Edlow.
“This alien tried every trick in the book to remain in the United States after losing legal status. We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law.”
Even more alarming, federal officials say Brown enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014, despite not having legal immigration status, and subsequently went AWOL the following year.
He was eventually taken into custody and discharged from military service in 2022 under “other than honorable conditions,” according to DHS.
Yet, two years after that discharge, Brown allegedly attempted to naturalize as a U.S. citizen based on his prior military service, an application DHS described as “another commission of fraud.”
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