DOJ Moves to Revoke Priest Urbano Vazquez Ortega’s 2017 Citizenship Over Minor Abuse
Updated
Updated · The Pillar · Jul 23
DOJ Moves to Revoke Priest Urbano Vazquez Ortega’s 2017 Citizenship Over Minor Abuse
1 articles · Updated · The Pillar · Jul 23
Summary
Federal prosecutors have filed to denaturalize 53-year-old Capuchin priest Urbano Vazquez Ortega, a Mexican national serving a 15-year sentence for sexually abusing two girls in Washington, D.C.
The DOJ says he obtained U.S. citizenship in 2017 through willful misrepresentation by concealing crimes committed in 2015 and 2016 during the naturalization process.
A federal judge must decide the case under a clear-evidence standard; if citizenship is revoked, Vazquez Ortega would revert to permanent-resident status and likely face deportation after prison.
Vazquez Ortega was convicted in 2019 over abuse of a 13-year-old and a 9-year-old at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, and in 2021 received an additional 180-day sentence for abusing an adult during confession.
The case highlights a narrow path for denaturalizing foreign-born clergy—24% of U.S. priests are immigrants—but immigration lawyers say such actions should remain rare and hinge on fraud tied to naturalization.