Former cab driver stripped of U.S. citizenship after 2011 rape conviction

Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was sentenced after a 2014 jury conviction for kidnapping and raping a female passenger he had driven from Williamsburg to the East Village in 2011. Prosecutors described how the victim awoke to find Singh threatening her with a knife, binding, gagging, blindfolding, and assaulting her before she escaped the taxi. Although the crime occurred weeks before he filed his naturalization paperwork, Singh concealed the offense and became a U.S. citizen on Oct. 19, 2011.

The Justice Department’s Civil Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, revoked his citizenship, calling the fraud a breach of immigration integrity. Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis gave Singh until Sept. 16 to turn over his naturalization certificate and passport, and he remains incarcerated at Shawangunk Correctional Facility, which also houses other high-profile inmates.