A woman accused of committing war crimes in Bosnia in the 1990s just pled guilty to lying about her criminal past in order to obtain United States citizenship.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti from the DOJ Criminal Division stated in a Friday press release, “The defendant obtained the privileges of U.S. citizenship through lies and deceit, concealing the violent crimes she committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Nada Radovan Tomanic became a naturalized U.S. citizen by concealing her past when going through the immigration process. It appears that U.S. officials failed as well to do proper research on her background.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) published the news about Tomanic on Nov. 14. The DOJ stated that evidence now shows Tomanic served in the Zulfikar Special Unit of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, during which time she abused Bosnian Serb civilian prisoners psychologically and physically.
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In 2012, Tomanic applied for naturalization in the United States, at which time she denied any service in a detention facility or a situation involving detention.
She also falsely denied having committed a crime for which she had not been arrested – specifically, the crime of inflicting serious bodily harm under the Criminal Law of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia.
Tomanic’s deception extended beyond her written naturalization application. During her interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer, she was placed under oath and legally obligated to answer questions truthfully. Despite that obligation, she again lied about her service in a detention facility and her past criminal conduct.
And apparently, American officials did not detect the deception for years. Bosnia and Herzegovina officials assisted the U.S. DOJ and FBI in the investigation.
Tomanic has now pleaded guilty to procuring citizenship contrary to law and will be sentenced in February, according to the DOJ press release. The maximum penalty would be 10 years in jail.
“Individuals who lie on their naturalization documents undermine the process for all who justly apply to be a part of our great nation,” emphasized FBI New Haven Special Agent in Charge P.J. O’Brien.
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He continued, “Tomanic’s admissions of fraud are detestable because of her history of targeting people based on their ethnicity and religion. The FBI, along with our partners at the the Department of Homeland Security’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security will continue to investigate crimes of this nature to ensure the sanctity of the immigration process for all who righteously apply for U.S. Citizenship.”
Interestingly, this news comes about a month after an October 7 Palestinian jihadi was found living in Louisiana with a visa he obtained by concealing his association with paramilitary brigades in Gaza. Our immigration system in the United States needs a serious overhaul.
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