Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez, a former priest and convicted child molester, has been sentenced to one year for passport fraud following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The 69-year-old Colombian national was also stripped of his U.S. citizenship and ordered deported.
Velez entered the United States in 2003 as a temporary religious worker. He applied for permanent residency in May 2007, declaring under penalty of perjury that he had never committed any crime of moral turpitude. His application was approved in November 2007.
In March 2013, Velez applied for naturalization, again asserting under penalty of perjury that he had not committed any undisclosed crimes or provided false information to government officials. He was granted U.S. citizenship on May 29, 2013.
Later that year, Velez submitted a passport application claiming no false documents were included. However, in February 2020, he was arrested in Howard County, Maryland, on multiple sex offense charges and subsequently pled guilty to sexual abuse of a minor. This abuse occurred from June 2003 through June 2009 while he served as the child's priest.
Scott Ladwig, acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans stated: "Child molesters like Velez who lied about their crimes to become citizens thought they could hide behind those who earned what they stole... They were right. That's exactly what we did."
The case is part of an ongoing national initiative by ICE aimed at identifying individuals who fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship after committing serious offenses such as murder, serial rape, child molestation among others.
The prosecution was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana with assistance from the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation and ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.
For further updates on immigration enforcement activities by ERO New Orleans across several states including Louisiana and Mississippi, follow them on X at @ERONewOrleans.
