DOJ moves to denaturalize former Phoenix driving school owner accused of killing Iraqi officers

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Ali Yousif Ahmed

PHOENIX - The Department of Justice is moving to denaturalize a dozen people, including the former owner of a Phoenix driving school accused of killing two Iraqi police officers while serving as an al-Qaeda leader.

What we know:

The DOJ says a civil denaturalization complaint was filed on May 8 against 48-year-old Ali Yousif Ahmed, an Iraqi native who came to the United States in 2009. Officials say Ahmed came to the U.S. as a refugee "based on a claim that he and his family were attacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq."

Ahmed lived in Phoenix and operated a driving school, but in 2019, Iraq asked the U.S. to extradite Ahmed to face criminal charges for the 2006 murders of two Iraqi police officers.

In 2020, Ahmed was arrested in Phoenix. Two years later, a judge certified the Iraqi government's extradition request for Ahmed.

Dig deeper:

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the DOJ says a naturalized U.S. citizen's citizenship may be revoked, and their certificate of naturalization is canceled if it was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.

"Upon further investigation, United States learned that, in 2015, Ahmed illegally procured his naturalization, which warrants his denaturalization, because he lied under oath about his criminal and family history when he sought admission to the United States and naturalized as a U.S. citizen," the DOJ said in a news release.

What they're saying:

"Individuals implicated in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens," Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said. "The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system. Those who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law."