A former Florida mayor could be stripped of his citizenship after immigration officials claimed he arrived in the US illegally before tying the knot in a sham marriage.
Philippe Bien-Aime, 60, from Haiti, has been accused of using a doctored passport to enter the country and lying about his marital status in order to gain naturalization.
A new lawsuit claims the former North Miami mayor illegally tried to gain citizenship in 2001 by wedding a US citizen while still married to his Haitian wife.
'Bien-Aime was not eligible to receive a visa as the spouse of a US citizen because his marriage to the US citizen... was bigamous and invalid,' an immigration officer said in an affidavit filed in Miami federal court on February 18.
Born Jean Philippe Janvier, the former politician allegedly arrived in the US on July 25, 1995, with his photograph on someone else's passport, authorities claimed in the suit viewed by the Tampa Bay Times.
According to NBC 6, the complaint stated that the alleged fraud had been uncovered following fingerprint comparisons.
In 2001, a judge ruled that Bien-Aime, who served as mayor from 2019 until 2022, should be deported to Haiti.
He appealed the removal order before eventually withdrawing his appeal, claiming that he had in fact returned to Haiti, according to a release from the US Department of Justice.
The former North Miami mayor, born Jean Philippe Janvier, allegedly arrived in the US on July 25, 1995, with his photo on someone else's passport, authorities claimed.
According to testimony during his denaturalization, Bien-Aime claimed he 'has not practiced polygamy and has not given any false testimony to obtain immigration benefits'.
'In reality, Bien-Aime remained in the United States and, using the new name and date of birth, married a US citizen to obtain permanent resident status,' a press release stated.
According to the release, he was already married to a Haitian citizen, making the marriage 'fraudulent and invalid.'
Court documents seen by the Times allege that, under the name Jean Philippe Janvier, the former mayor married Sarahjane Ternier. Then, as Philippe Bien-Aime, he married Beatrice Gelin.
He used the same false name in the mayoral race in 2019 after serving on the city council for six years, according to NBC6.
The outlet reported that both women were wed to Bien-Aime on June 20, 1993, in Port-au-Prince.
However, the marriage to Ternier and the divorce certificates for both marriages were found to be fraudulent, according to an immigration summary viewed by the outlet.
Court records further found that Bien-Aime claimed in his green card and naturalization applications that he had divorced Gelin and married Mari Rose Chauvet, a US citizen, in May 2001.
The complaint accused Bien-Aime of illegally obtaining naturalization by evading a final removal order, which prohibited his consideration for naturalization and US citizenship; providing false information under oath; including testimony regarding his children and former addresses.
'The complaint also claims that Bien-Aime's naturalization should be revoked because he concealed and misrepresented facts that were material to his qualifications for US citizenship,' the release stated.
According to the outlet, Bien-Aime's case is part of the Trump Administration's efforts to uncover immigrants who obtained citizenship in the US through fraudulent means.
'Bien-Aime was not eligible to receive a visa as the spouse of a US citizen because his marriage to the US citizen... was bigamous and invalid,' an immigration officer said in an affidavit
The complaint accused Bien-Aime of illegally obtaining naturalization by evading a final removal order, which prohibited his consideration for naturalization; providing false information under oath; including testimony regarding his children and former addresses.
'We trust any reporting will reflect that the matter remains unsolved and that no findings have been made,' he added.
'This administration will not permit fraudsters and tricksters who cheat their way to the gift of US citizenship,' Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department's Civil Division stated in the release.
'The passage of time does not diminish blatant immigration fraud.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Bien-Aime's attorney for comment.