Federal prosecutors in North Carolina have charged a Salvadoran national with naturalization fraud and passport fraud after discovering that he concealed his criminal history, including the sexual abuse of a child, when applying for U.S. citizenship.
Isidro Arcenio Alvarado, 57, a native of El Salvador, was indicted by a federal grand jury in August and made his first court appearance this week in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The indictment alleges that Alvarado knowingly lied under oath to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by denying past crimes and misconduct, including sexual offenses, to secure U.S. citizenship.
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He later used that fraudulently obtained a naturalization certificate to apply for a U.S. passport in March 2023.
Alvarado’s deception unraveled when North Carolina authorities arrested him in April 2023 on multiple charges related to child sexual abuse.
According to court records, he abused a 10-year-old child over a period spanning from January 2019 to April 2021.
Despite those crimes having occurred before his naturalization, law enforcement had not yet apprehended him, allowing him to obtain citizenship under pretenses.
On July 8, 2025, in Wake County Superior Court, Alvarado pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent liberties with a child.
He received a suspended sentence of 32 to 58 months and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
That conviction, combined with the fraudulent naturalization process, triggered the federal charges now pending against him.
Alvarado faces four federal counts, each carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
If convicted, he will automatically lose his U.S. citizenship and be stripped of the benefits he unlawfully secured.
The case underscores how naturalization fraud can allow dangerous offenders to slip through the system and gain legal protections they would otherwise be denied.
Federal investigators emphasized that this prosecution is part of Operation False Haven, a broader initiative to identify child predators and other serious offenders who lied their way into U.S. citizenship.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security Division are jointly involved in the probe.
The charges against Alvarado highlight vulnerabilities in the immigration vetting system, notably when state-level criminal investigations lag behind federal naturalization processes.
In this case, a predator concealed his crimes, exploited gaps in oversight, and obtained one of the highest privileges the U.S. can grant—citizenship.
Now that fraud threatens to unravel his legal status entirely, it serves as a warning for others who might attempt the same deception.
