U.S. immigration authorities have initiated legal proceedings to strip the citizenship from a former Colombian priest accused of concealing serious crimes during his naturalization process.
Oscar Alberto Peláez arrived in the United States to serve as a priest in California. In 1999, he applied for citizenship, attesting that he had no criminal record and had never been arrested for any offense.
He was granted naturalization as a U.S. citizen in 2001. However, just one year later, in 2002, Peláez was found guilty of 13 felonies after confessing to the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old minor. The abuse took place within his own parish between 1998 and 2000.
The case was revived by authorities following an investigation that led to a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. The goal is to revoke Peláez’s citizenship on the grounds that he deliberately concealed information about his crimes during his immigration process.
The proceeding is part of a broader strategy to identify cases where individuals obtained immigration benefits through false information or material omissions.
