Cleveland, Ohio – A former Northeast Ohio physician has been indicted by a federal grand jury for naturalization fraud, accused of lying on official documents and during a citizenship interview to hide his involvement in a violent crime. Yousif Abdulraouf Alhallaq, 46, of Canton, is facing serious legal consequences after federal prosecutors alleged that he provided false answers on his U.S. naturalization application and under oath during an interview with immigration officials.
According to the indictment, Alhallaq, who was born in Kuwait and held Jordanian citizenship at the time, first entered the United States in 2006 on an H1B visa. In 2011, he applied for and received permanent residency status, which allowed him to continue his medical career in Northeast Ohio. For years, Alhallaq practiced as a doctor while concealing a dark secret—he had attempted to poison a woman who was pregnant with his child.
In December 2014, federal authorities say Alhallaq deliberately poisoned the pregnant woman in an effort to terminate the pregnancy without her knowledge. He was later indicted on March 18, 2021, in Stark County and charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault. The charges stemmed from his actions that aimed to “purposely cause the termination of the victim’s pregnancy and knowingly causing serious physical harm to the victim and her unborn child.” In September 2021, Alhallaq pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to four years in prison.
What has now led to the federal indictment is Alhallaq’s attempt to gain U.S. citizenship while actively hiding the facts surrounding this crime. Before he was charged in 2021, Alhallaq submitted his Form N-400 naturalization application in late 2017. On that form, he answered “no” to several critical questions, including:
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“Were you ever involved in any way with killing or trying to kill someone?”
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“Were you ever involved in any way with badly hurting, or trying to hurt a person on purpose?”
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“Have you ever committed, assisted in committing, or attempted to commit a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?”
Those statements, federal prosecutors argue, were knowingly false. In March 2018, during his in-person interview with a U.S. immigration officer, Alhallaq reaffirmed his “no” responses to those same questions under oath. Based on the information he provided, he was granted U.S. citizenship and took the Oath of Allegiance at a ceremony in Stark County on May 4, 2018.
Now, the government claims that Alhallaq committed fraud by concealing his involvement in the 2014 crime—an incident that happened years before he even submitted his application. By knowingly providing false statements both in writing and verbally under oath, he is alleged to have unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship.
If convicted of naturalization fraud, Alhallaq faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. The case serves as a reminder of the seriousness with which immigration authorities view honesty in the naturalization process, especially when it involves violent crimes. Federal officials have not yet announced whether they will pursue denaturalization proceedings to revoke his U.S. citizenship.
