Two Men in Nevada and Miami Face Serious Charges Tied to Immigration Fraud and Sexual Assault

Nevada: Citizenship Obtained While Hiding Two Rapes

Kevin Jesus King was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on June 15, 2018, at a ceremony in Reno, Nevada. Federal prosecutors say he had no business being there.

According to the Justice Department, King committed a sexual assault on or about July 25, 2017, before he ever filed his citizenship application. He then committed a second sexual assault on or about March 18, 2018, after he had already applied but before he was naturalized. He pleaded guilty to both counts on July 25, 2024.

On his 2018 citizenship application, King checked "No" when asked whether he had ever committed an offense for which he was not arrested, and again when asked whether he had ever lied to a government official, according to the federal indictment reported by Fox News. The Justice Department has now charged him with naturalization fraud.

U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah of the District of Nevada stated: "United States citizenship is one of the most meaningful privileges our Nation can bestow, and it cannot be obtained through lies, concealment, or fraud." Chattah added that King "hid serious felony conduct while seeking the rights and benefits of citizenship."

Fraudulently obtaining citizenship carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and, if convicted, can result in automatic revocation of citizenship, according to U.S. immigration law. The indictment does not identify King's country of origin.

This case is part of a broader pattern the Trump administration has been pushing. Earlier in June 2026, the Justice Department announced it was moving to revoke the citizenship of 17 people from 13 different countries who allegedly obtained naturalization through fraud or concealment of criminal conduct. The alleged crimes in those cases include child sexual abuse, narcotics trafficking, and large-scale financial fraud, according to Fox News reporting.

Miami: Illegal Alien Released Under Biden, Now Charged With Rape

In a separate case, Yusel Keoma Perez-Leyva, a Cuban national, was arrested in Miami and charged with sexual battery while a victim was physically incapacitated and kidnapping, according to Breitbart News.

Miami police allege that on June 18, 2026, Perez-Leyva drugged a woman after a night of clubbing, then carried her to his apartment and raped her. Surveillance footage reviewed by police reportedly shows him carrying the incapacitated woman into his residence.

Perez-Leyva had been working as an Uber driver at the time, though the alleged assault did not occur during a ride-share trip.

He first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally into Arizona in 2021. He was released into the U.S. interior under the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy, then overseen by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to Breitbart.

DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis stated: "This sexual predator was released into our country by the Biden Administration. ICE has lodged a detainer against him, and because Florida cooperates with ICE, he will be turned over to ICE custody and never released into American communities again."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer with local Miami police, requesting that Perez-Leyva be held until federal agents can take custody. Florida's cooperation with ICE detainer requests means that transfer is expected to proceed.

The Strongest Counterargument, Stated Fairly

Critics of using individual criminal cases to drive broad immigration policy make a legitimate point: the overwhelming majority of immigrants, legal and undocumented, do not commit violent crimes, and research by organizations including the Cato Institute has found that undocumented immigrants are incarcerated at lower rates than native-born citizens. Highlighting only the worst-case outliers, without that broader statistical context, can distort public perception of a population of millions. That concern is real and worth holding alongside the individual cases.

At the same time, the counterargument does not resolve the specific policy failure at issue here. If Perez-Leyva had been detained at the border in 2021 rather than released, this particular woman in Miami would not have been assaulted by him in 2026. The statistical rarity of such outcomes doesn't address whether catch-and-release was a sound enforcement posture. And in King's case, the failure was entirely within the naturalization system itself: a man who had already committed a rape was allowed to apply for and receive U.S. citizenship because background checks did not catch conduct for which he had not been charged.

What Comes Next

The King case will proceed in federal court in the District of Nevada. A conviction on naturalization fraud would make revocation of his citizenship automatic under federal law.

For Perez-Leyva, Florida's cooperation with the ICE detainer means he is expected to face both state criminal charges and federal immigration proceedings, though the timeline and whether any plea negotiations might affect the immigration case remain open questions. The charges are allegations; both men are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

The unresolved systemic question is whether the naturalization application process has been meaningfully reformed to detect undisclosed criminal conduct, given that King was able to pass through it with two rapes on his record. The Justice Department has not publicly described what changes, if any, have been made to the vetting process since this case came to light.