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The Justice Department is seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Somali-American man who was convicted in the Feeding Our Future case. Documents in the denaturalization proceedings against Abdikadir Kadiye do not mention the sprawling fraud scheme, but allege that he used two separate identities when applying for residency in the late 1990s and lied on his citizenship application.
Kadiye, 54, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2023 to wire fraud for his role in the scheme to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during COVID.
He is among the latest people the Justice Department is seeking to denaturalize, according to a Monday news release.
Kadiye is at least the second Minnesotan targeted for denaturalization. In May, the Justice Department began proceedings against Salah Osman Ahmed, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to providing material support to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
Neither the news release nor court documents in Kadiye’s denaturalization proceeding mention his conviction in the Feeding Our Future scheme, but filings in both cases list the same age and home address.
Authorities say that Kadiye initially applied for U.S. residency under the name Liban Mohamud Degel, but an immigration judge rejected his bid in 1999 and ordered him to leave the country. The Board of Immigration Appeals later rejected Kadiye’s appeal and issued a warrant of removal in 2001.
He allegedly stayed, applied for citizenship as Abdikadir Kadiye and was naturalized in 2012. According to the complaint, fingerprints from both applications confirm that Degel and Kadiye are the same person.
The Justice Department alleges that Kadiye’s “conduct to conceal his actions statutorily barred him from becoming a U.S. citizen,” and that he illegally procured his naturalization.
The complaint also alleges that in 2014, Kadiye admitted to a Customs and Border Patrol agent at O’Hare Airport “that he had unsuccessfully used the identity of Liban M. Degel unsuccessfully to attempt to enter the United States. CBP, however, subsequently closed the deferred inspection since he was a U.S. citizen.”
Denaturalization proceedings are rare. Federal immigration law requires that the Justice Department show “clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence” that a person was ineligible for citizenship or lied during the process of naturalization.
No attorney is listed for Kadiye in the denaturalization case. C. Connor Cremens, who represents Kadiye in the Feeding Our Future case, declined comment.
According to his 2023 indictment, Kadiye used his business, Hoybo Health Care Foundation, to submit false claims worth $1.1 million for 445,000 meals that he claimed to have served to children at sites in Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, and Minnetonka.
Prosecutors said that Kadiye used the stolen money to pay his mortgage and credit card bills and also purchased real estate in south Minneapolis. Investigators uncovered wire transfers that Kadiye made to purchase vehicles, including a Toyota Tundra pickup truck and a BMW SUV.
Kadiye’s plea agreement calls for him to serve 27 to 33 months in prison, but U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel has not yet scheduled a sentencing hearing.
