MIAMI — The Department of Justice said it is looking to strip a former mayor of North Miami of his U.S. citizenship after he allegedly misrepresented his identity and immigration history during his naturalization process.
Federal attorneys filed a denaturalization case against Philippe Bien-Aime in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday, court records show.
Bien-Aime, who is originally from Haiti and was naturalized in 2006, was elected mayor of North Miami in 2019. He resigned in 2022 to run for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission, but lost the election.
In a civil complaint reviewed by NBC News and NBC Miami, which first reported the story, the DOJ claims Bien-Aime first entered the United States in 1997 using a fraudulent, “photo-switched” passport under the name Jean Philippe Janvier.
In July 31, 2000, an immigration judge determined he entered the country fraudulently and ordered him removed to Haiti, according to the complaint. He appealed the removal order at the time, but later withdrew the appeal, representing that he had returned to live in Haiti. But federal authorities allege he never went back to Haiti and instead remained in the United States under the name Philippe Bien-Aime.
Department of Homeland Security records — including fingerprint comparisons — show that the person who naturalized as Philippe Bien-Aime is the same individual who was previously ordered removed from the United States under the name Philippe Janvier, according to the complaint.
Peterson St. Philippe, an attorney for Bien-Aime, told NBC Miami in a statement that they are in the process of reviewing the complaint and will be responding to the allegations “through the appropriate legal channels.”
“As this is a pending litigation, we will not be commenting further at this time,” St. Philippe said.
The case against Bien-Aime comes as the Trump administration is expanding its efforts to revoke U.S. citizenship for foreign-born Americans as part of the president’s broader agenda to curb immigration.
Denaturalization is lengthy and time-consuming process and has a high legal bar. Even when federal authorities are investigating someone with the aim to denaturalize, it could take years, and a subsequent deportation would take even longer.
If the government ultimately succeeds in its effort to strip Bien-Aime of his U.S. citizenship, it could raise legal and political questions about his time in office.
North Miami’s city code states that candidates seeking office must be qualified electors — meaning they must be citizens eligible to vote and registered at the time. To register to vote, a person must be a U.S. citizen.
In addition to remaining in the United States under another name, the complaint alleges, Bien-Aime married a U.S. citizen and obtained permanent resident status. But federal prosecutors allege that marriage was invalid because he was already married to a Haitian citizen. According to the complaint, the divorce certificate Bien-Aime presented to immigration authorities was fraudulent.
“United States citizenship is a privilege grounded in honesty and allegiance to this country,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones of the Southern District of Florida said in a news release Friday. “If proven, we will ask the Court to revoke a status that was never lawfully obtained.”
Hatzel Vela and Erika Angulo reported from Miami and Nicole Acevedo from New York.
