Jose Ortiz Morales, Immigration Fraud, Maryland 2017

Baltimore, Maryland – A former Johns Hopkins employee, Jose Ortiz Morales, 55, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to attempted unlawful procurement of naturalization charges on May 25, 2017.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning and Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to his plea agreement, in 1980, Morales joined the Guatemalan Army and became a member of a Special Forces military unit, known as the Kaibiles. The Kaibiles were involved in serious human rights offenses during the time period in which Morales was a member. The military unit of approximately 20 Special Forces soldiers is alleged to have participated in the massacre of over 200 unarmed villagers in the small hamlet of Dos Erres, Guatemala.

In August 1988, the defendant entered the United States by crossing the international border from Mexico into Texas illegally. He travelled to the Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia area, where he resided and legally worked for many years, including at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He applied for and was granted Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) in 1990.

On July 13, 2006, Morales sought U.S. citizenship by submitting the N-400 naturalization application to the U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Services (CIS). On the N-400 and during a CIS official interview, Morales falsely claimed under oath that he was not a part of any group reportable to CIS, when, in fact, he was a member of the Kaibiles and sought to conceal his involvement with that military unit.

Morales faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis has scheduled sentencing for September 8, 2017 at 2:15 p.m.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-johns-hopkins-employee-pleads-guilty-immigration-fraud-connection-false-statements