A Mexican national, Felix Aguilar-Matias, has been sentenced to three months in prison and had his U.S. citizenship revoked for naturalization fraud. Aguilar-Matias, 51, was convicted after pleading guilty on February 18, 2025.
Court documents reveal that Aguilar-Matias submitted an application for naturalization to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) in August 2014 and became a U.S. citizen in March 2015. However, he was arrested by the Bay St. Louis Police Department in Hancock County in October 2019. He pleaded guilty to two felony offenses related to criminal acts committed between August and December 2010. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Agents found that Aguilar-Matias knowingly made fraudulent representations on his naturalization application to hide his prior felony conduct.
The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Patrick A. Lemon and Brian Acuna, Acting Field Office Director of ICE/ERO in New Orleans.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Enforcement & Removal Operations and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris.
This prosecution is part of "Operation Take Back America," a nationwide initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration and dismantling transnational criminal organizations.
