Defendant was previously convicted of attempted murder and felonious assault of his then-girlfriend and their unborn child

CLEVELAND - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided critical assistance to the investigation leading to the conviction of a former medical doctor for naturalization fraud. Yousif Abdulraouf Alhallaq, 47, of Canton, Ohio, lied on his Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, and during an in-person interview. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement.

According to court documents, Alhallaq was born in Kuwait and entered the United States on an H-1B visa in 2006. He filed an application to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2011 and was approved.

Evidence presented at trial shows that Alhallaq began work as an internal medicine doctor in Northeast Ohio in 2012. In December 2014, he poisoned his girlfriend's oatmeal with an abortion drug after she became pregnant with his child to terminate the pregnancy without her knowledge. Several years later, the victim learned the truth about the incident and reported him to police. On March 18, 2021, Alhallaq was indicted and charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault for trying to purposely cause the termination of the victim's pregnancy in 2014 causing serious, physical harm to her and her unborn child. In September 2021, Alhallaq pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Before Alhallaq was sentenced for those charges in 2021, he submitted a Form N-400 to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. He submitted his application in 2017 and on the application answered "no" to the following questions:

• 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?

Alhallaq was interviewed by an immigration officer in 2018 to review the answers he submitted on his Form N-400. Under oath, Alhallaq verbally confirmed his answers to questions 14D and 22 as "no," matching those he initially submitted by mail. On May 4, 2018, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Alhallaq knowingly committed acts of attempted murder and felonious assault by attempting to unlawfully terminate his girlfriend's pregnancy, but he attested to federal officials that the information he provided was true and was subsequently granted U.S. citizenship.

Alhallaq faces a maximum of up to 10 years in prison for naturalization fraud and faces denaturalization because of his conviction.

The investigation was conducted by USCIS' Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in Cleveland.

To report suspected immigration benefit fraud or abuse to USCIS, please use the USCIS Tip Form.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.