Federal authorities arrested an illegal alien in Minnesota who allegedly worked as a state correctional officer while falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and abandoning his post in the National Guard.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Morris Brown, a 45-year-old Liberian national, into custody Jan. 15 in Minneapolis as part of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS’s) “Operation Twin Shield,” an enforcement effort targeting suspected immigration fraud in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS officials say Brown overstayed a student visa, falsely claimed U.S. citizenship on official documents and attempted to game the immigration system for years after losing lawful status.
“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.”
Brown entered the United States in 2014 on a non-immigrant student visa. Federal officials terminated the visa in 2015 after he failed to enroll in a full course of study, stripping him of lawful status. Despite lacking legal authorization, Brown enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014. He went absent without leave the following year.
Authorities later apprehended him and discharged him in 2022 under other than honorable conditions, according to DHS. In 2020, Brown applied for lawful permanent residence under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program. USCIS denied the application after investigators found he misrepresented key facts, including failing to disclose prior military service and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship.
Brown then applied in 2024 to naturalize as a U.S. citizen based on his prior military service, officials said. During Operation Twin Shield, USCIS investigators reviewing his citizenship application uncovered additional evidence of alleged marriage fraud and repeated false claims of citizenship in official records.
Investigators further determined that Brown had secured employment as a correctional officer for the state of Minnesota by claiming to be a U.S. citizen, despite having no lawful immigration status. USCIS referred the case to ICE for enforcement action. Brown now faces removal proceedings and potential criminal prosecution for immigration fraud, false claims to U.S. citizenship and related federal offenses.
In September, federal immigration authorities escalated their crackdown on fraud in Minnesota, placing hundreds of foreign nationals under scrutiny as part of an aggressive enforcement push. The Trump administration rolled out Operation Twin Shield, a coordinated law enforcement surge in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area that targeted suspected migrant fraud and expanded the government’s investigative reach.
USCIS officers uncovered 275 cases of suspected fraud after conducting more than 900 in-person interviews and site visits tied to applications flagged for potential eligibility problems. The agency referred dozens of cases to ICE, issued 42 notices to appear, and arrested two additional foreign nationals after identifying safety concerns and other violations in roughly 44% of the cases it examined.
USCIS warned that citizens who sponsor the migrants could face financial consequences if the migrants they support rely on public assistance. The agency pledged tighter screening of green card applicants who have used taxpayer-funded benefits. In August, officials said they would evaluate not only whether applicants avoided wrongdoing during the naturalization process but whether they demonstrate affirmative contributions to American society.
(Featured Image Media Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Creative Commons/Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/us_icegov/50044720216/)
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