Minnesota man faces denaturalization for allegedly concealing criminal history during naturalization
May 8, 2026
Country of origin: Somalia

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking to denaturalize Salah Osman Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Minnesota. Ahmed was naturalized in August 2007, months before providing material support to al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists after admitting to attending secret meetings in Minneapolis in 2007, traveling to Somalia in December 2007 to help build a training camp, receiving weapons training including on PKM machine guns, and raising money from the Somali-American community. He served three years in prison and was granted relief from supervised release in 2022. The DOJ contends Ahmed was not genuinely attached to U.S. constitutional principles at the time of naturalization and must prove by clear and convincing evidence that his citizenship was not obtained through fraud or misrepresentation.
Timeline
Sources
- Somali man pleads guilty to terrorism charge
NBC News·Jul 16, 2009·archived copy
- Justice Department Moves to Denaturalize 12 Individuals for Concealing Terrorist Support, War Crimes, Espionage, Sexual Abuse, and More
justice.gov·May 8, 2026·archived copy
- Department of Justice aims to denaturalize man for supporting al-Shabaab
- Feds seeks to revoke citizenship of Minnesota man in denaturalization case
mprnews.org·May 11, 2026·archived copy
- Feds seeks to denaturalize Minnesota man
sahanjournal.com·May 12, 2026·archived copy
- Justice Department seeks to strip citizenship of man convicted in Minn. of terrorism charge — Spot On Minnesota
- USCIS and DOJ Take Steps to Denaturalize 12 Individuals for Concealing Terrorist Support, War Crimes, Espionage, Sexual Abuse, and More
uscis.gov·May 14, 2026·archived copy
- justice.gov
- DOJ Invokes McCarthy-Era Law to Strip Somalia-born Minnesotan of Citizenship
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