‘Serial Fraudster’: Feds Nab Minnesota Corrections Officer Who Lied About U.S. Citizenship

The Trump administration arrested an illegal immigrant who pretended to be a United States citizen to become a corrections officer in Minnesota.

The alleged “serial immigration fraudster,” 45-year-old Morris Brown of Liberia, was captured on January 15 after going AWOL from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Federal authorities said the “serial fraudster was identified as part of the major enforcement operation that targeted suspected immigration fraud in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last fall,” and had “multiple violations of U.S. immigration law, including overstaying his student visa and making false claims to U.S. citizenship.”

While the Trump administration recently ended its massive immigration sweeps in Minnesota, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” officials have made clear that they will not pull federal officers investigating fraud from the North Star State.

“Operation Twin Shield continues to deliver results as the Department of Homeland Security relentlessly pursues those who seek to cheat our immigration system,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement Wednesday.

“This alien tried every trick in the book to remain in the United States after losing legal status. We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law,” Edlow added.

Brown came into the country in 2014 on a student visa that was “terminated” in 2015 after he failed to enroll “in a full course of study,” USCIS said.

He also joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014, despite having no legal immigration status, and went AWOL the next year. He was later apprehended and discharged under other than honorable conditions in 2022.

He applied for a green card under the Liberian Refugee Fairness program in 2020, but was ultimately denied “due to misrepresentations, including his failure to disclose prior military service and his false claim to U.S. citizenship,” according to USCIS.

Brown then applied for citizenship “based on prior military service” in 2024.

Federal investigators probing allegations of fraud in the Twin Cities looked into Brown’s citizenship application, finding “evidence of marriage fraud and prior instances where he falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen in official documents,” USCIS said.

It was also discovered that he was employed as a corrections officer with the state.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections confirmed that Brown was employed from May 2023 to October 2025, saying that they’ve provided his employment documents to USCIS, according to local news outlet KSTP.

The department claimed to have adhered to federal document verification requirements when it hired Brown, the outlet reported.

“If these federal allegations are accurate, this individual engaged in sophisticated efforts to misrepresent their identity, extending well beyond Minnesota. We are grateful to USCIS and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for their work in investigating and addressing immigration fraud,” Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “We will continue to comply with federal law and work professionally with our federal partners.”

USCIS notified ICE of its findings, resulting in Brown being placed into removal proceedings and facing possible prosecution for his alleged fraud offenses.

Since the Trump administration commenced its mass deportation campaign, federal authorities have discovered several other instances of illegal immigrants working as law enforcement officers.

In early February, ICE revealed that officers had arrested an illegal immigrant from Cameroon who was just one week away from graduating from the New Orleans Police Department academy.

In October, federal authorities nabbed Radule Bojovic, an illegal immigrant from Montenegro, who was employed as a police officer with the Hanover Police Department in Illinois.

A judge later granted Bojovic a $2,500 immigration bond, and the police department has since allowed him to return to work.