{"id":163236,"date":"2026-02-20T23:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163236\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T23:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:46:07","slug":"doj-moves-to-revoke-citizenship-of-former-north-miami-mayor-over-alleged-immigration-fraud-local-news-updates-the-miami-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163236\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ moves to revoke citizenship of former North Miami Mayor over alleged immigration fraud | Local News & Updates | The Miami Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of former\u00a0North Miami<\/a>\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Philippe Bien-Aime, alleging he concealed key facts about his identity and immigration history to obtain naturalization.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)\u00a0filed a civil denaturalization complaint<\/a>\u00a0Feb. 18 in federal court in Miami. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge\u00a0K.\u00a0Michael Moore.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege<\/a>\u00a0Bien-Aime used the name \u201cJean Philippe Janvier\u201d when he entered the United States using a fraudulent, \u201cphoto-switched\u201d passport.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, an immigration Judge ordered Bien-Aime removed from the country in 2001 under the Janvier identity. Officials say he withdrew an appeal of that decision while claiming he had returned to Haiti, but instead remained in the U.S. and later pursued lawful permanent residency under a different name.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors contend Bien-Aime subsequently married a U.S. citizen to obtain immigration benefits, but the marriage was invalid because he was already married to another person in Haiti. Authorities allege he made numerous false statements during immigration proceedings, including denying he had been subject to a removal order and providing inaccurate information about his marital history, residences and children.<\/p>\n

He ultimately became a naturalized citizen in 2006 using the Bien-Aime identity, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

DOJ officials say fingerprint comparisons confirmed Bien-Aime and Janvier are the same person.<\/p>\n

NBC 6\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0on Bien-Aime\u2019s issues Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Administration will not permit fraudsters and tricksters who cheat their way to the gift of U.S. citizenship,\u201d Assistant Attorney General\u00a0Brett Shumate\u00a0said in a statement. \u201cThe passage of time does not diminish blatant immigration fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney\u00a0Jason Reding Qui\u00f1ones\u00a0said in a statement that after \u201cusing false identities, false statements, and a sham marriage to evade a lawful removal order,\u201d the fact that Bien-Aime later served as an elected Mayor \u201cmakes the alleged deception even more serious, because public office carries a duty of candor and respect for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf proven, we will ask the Court to revoke a status that was never lawfully obtained,\u201d he said. \u201cThe rule of law requires nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bien-Aime\u2019s case is part of a broader federal effort to increase denaturalization enforcement. A 2025 DOJ\u00a0directive<\/a>\u00a0instructed attorneys to prioritize cases involving alleged fraud, national security threats and other serious violations. Historically, denaturalization actions have been rare, but federal officials have recently expanded enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n

Bien-Aime was first elected to the North Miami City Council in 2013 and won the Mayor\u2019s Office in 2019. He resigned in 2022 to run for Miami-Dade County Commission but\u00a0lost that race<\/a>\u00a0to nonprofit executive\u00a0Marleine Bastien.<\/p>\n

In 2018, he was\u00a0accused of sexual harassment and assault<\/a>\u00a0stemming from an alleged incident two years before, when a former staffer said he propositioned her. He settled out of court, but denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of former\u00a0North Miami\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Philippe Bien-Aime, alleging he concealed key facts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[78084,78088,78065,78075,78066,78069,78078,78090,78068,78071,78079,78074,78076,78067,78089,78085,78077,78086,123,125,124,78082,78081,78087,77953,78064,78073,78072,78070,78083,78080],"class_list":["post-163236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-brett-shumate-statement","tag-denaturalization-enforcement-expansion-2025","tag-denaturalization-lawsuit-united-states","tag-deportation-order-concealed-immigration-history","tag-doj-move-to-revoke-citizenship","tag-federal-denaturalization-complaint-miami-court","tag-federal-immigration-court-case-miami","tag-former-mayor-citizenship-revocation-lawsuit","tag-former-north-miami-mayor-investigation","tag-fraudulent-passport-immigration-case","tag-haitian-american-politician-legal-case","tag-identity-fraud-immigration-naturalization","tag-immigration-enforcement-under-trump-administration","tag-immigration-fraud-allegations-florida","tag-immigration-identity-fraud-case-florida","tag-jason-reding-quiones-prosecution","tag-justice-department-denaturalization-effort","tag-k-michael-moore-federal-court-case","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-political-figure-legal-troubles","tag-naturalized-citizen-accused-of-lying-on-application","tag-north-miami-political-scandal","tag-philippe-bien-aime","tag-philippe-bien-aime-citizenship-case","tag-photo-switched-passport-case-united-states","tag-sham-marriage-immigration-fraud-allegations","tag-u-s-citizenship-revocation-case-2026","tag-u-s-department-of-justice-immigration-case","tag-u-s-immigration-fraud-prosecution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}