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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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A former Catholic priest who was convicted of child sexual abuse has been stripped of his United States citizenship and ordered back to his native Colombia.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Thursday that Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez, 69, lied on immigration and naturalization forms that he had not committed any crimes, despite the abuse years earlier.
Why It Matters
Denaturalization is rare but can happen, including if an immigrant knowingly lies on applications and is found guilty of a crime at a later date. While the case has been underway for some years, Velez-Lopez's removal comes at a time of heightened interest in the deportation of criminal immigrants under the Trump administration.
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What To Know
The Colombian was admitted into the U.S. as a temporary religious worker in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He became a permanent resident in 2007 and a U.S. citizen in 2013.
The DOJ said that throughout his immigration journey, Velez-Lopez said he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested, he had never given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official while applying for an immigration benefit, nor lied in order to gain entry or admission to the U.S.
Three years after becoming a citizen, accusations of abuse against Velez-Lopez emerged from his time as a priest in Columbia, Maryland.
According to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, his victim initially denied the abuse following a third-party complaint in 2009, when she was 18. In 2016, she came forward, at age 24, and said she and the priest had been in a sexual relationship that led to her having a baby. He admitted the relationship and the pair got married.
However, in February 2020, Velez-Lopez was arrested and charged in Howard County, Maryland, with five counts of third-degree sex offense and one fourth-degree sex offense over the abuse, which had begun in 2005, when the victim would have been about 14.
While Velez-Lopez had no assignments in the Archdiocese of Baltimore after 2010, he had spent seven years working in the area, mostly in Spanish-speaking churches.
Velez-Lopez pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He was then convicted of passport fraud and ordered denaturalized on February 28.
What People Are Saying
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans acting Field Office Director Scott Ladwig, in a press release: "Child molesters like Velez who lied about their crimes to become citizens thought they could hide behind those who earned what they stole. They thought ICE would have to search through thousands of records to find them. They were right. That's exactly what we did. ICE and our partners will relentlessly defend the integrity of our nation's naturalization process."
Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov M. Roth, in a press release: "This case sends a clear message to individuals who commit any type of sexual offense, particularly those involving children, during the naturalization process—we will ensure that justice is done. The Justice Department's Office of Immigration Litigation will continue to hold individuals responsible for sexual offenses, especially those involving child victims."
What Happens Next
Velez-Lopez has been ordered removed from the U.S. Once he has served his 12-month sentence for passport fraud, he will be handed over to ICE for deportation.
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