The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), known as the Immigration Bureau, announced on Friday that a joint investigation with the Department of Justice (DOJ) has led to the civil lawsuit filed against former North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida this week, seeking to revoke his citizenship.
According to the announcement, Philippe Bien-Aime, also known as Jean Philippe Janvier, a Haitian national, entered the U.S. illegally and obtained immigration benefits using two different identities before ultimately acquiring U.S. citizenship.
As part of a nationwide program called the “Historic Fingerprint Enrollment” initiated jointly by the Immigration Bureau and the Department of Justice, fingerprints provided under both identities used by Bien-Aime were compared, revealing and confirming his immigration fraud.
Before becoming a U.S. citizen under the name Philippe Bien-Aime, he entered the country using forged photos and altered passports under the name Jean Philippe Janvier.
In 2001, Janvier received a deportation order and filed an appeal, which was later withdrawn with claims of returning to Haiti.
However, he stayed in the U.S., marrying an American citizen under a new name and falsified birth date to obtain lawful permanent resident status by deceiving immigration authorities. Since his prior marriage to a Haitian citizen was fraudulent, the marriage was invalidated.
Subsequently, he made multiple false statements during his identity adjustment and naturalization processes and was naturalized in 2006 under the name Bien-Aime.
The webpage of the National Alliance for Haitian Professionals (NAAHPUSA) states that Bien-Aime, as North Miami Mayor, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, worked in various sectors of the automotive industry for nearly 20 years. He founded his company in 2006, elected as the District 3 Council Member in North Miami in 2013, served as vice mayor in 2019, and won the mayoral election in May of the same year.
The Immigration Bureau’s announcement listed the charges against Bien-Aime for unlawfully obtaining U.S. nationality, including:
– A prior final deportation order that revoked his naturalization eligibility, leading the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS, predecessor of USCIS) to deny his permanent resident status application.
– The deportation order prohibited USCIS from processing his citizenship application, thereby prohibiting him from acquiring U.S. citizenship.
– Due to his fraudulent activities and the sham nature of his marriage, he failed to legally adjust his status and become a permanent resident.
– He committed perjury during identity adjustment and naturalization interviews by providing false or misleading information to obtain immigration benefits, denying his deportation order and lying to U.S. government officials about his children and previous addresses.
The lawsuit emphasizes that Bien-Aime concealed and distorted crucial facts relevant to his U.S. citizenship eligibility, obtaining citizenship through document fraud and marriage fraud. His naturalization eligibility and citizenship should be revoked.
The case will be pursued by the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation’s Affirmative Litigation Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.