Ex-Minnesota corrections officer accused of falsely claiming to be U.S. citizen

A former Minnesota corrections officer is facing deportation and criminal charges that accuse him of more than a decade of citizenship deception.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, 45-year-old Morris Brown was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis on Jan. 15. 

DHS said the Liberian national last entered the U.S. in 2014 with a nonimmigrant student visa, which was terminated the following year because Brown failed to enroll in a full course of study.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow claimed Brown “tried every trick in the book” to stay in the country after losing his legal status. 

“We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law,” Edlow said. 

Federal officials said they found out during Operation Twin Shield last September that Brown was working as a Minnesota corrections officer. The operation targeted immigration fraud in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area.

DHS said Brown now faces removal proceedings and possible criminal prosecution for immigration fraud, false claims to U.S. citizenship and other related offenses. 

In a statement, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said it has cooperated with the investigation and followed federal document verification requirements while hiring Brown. He worked for them from May 2023 until last October.

“If these federal allegations are accurate, this individual engaged in sophisticated efforts to misrepresent their identity, extending well beyond Minnesota,” DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “We are grateful to USCIS and ICE for their work in investigating and addressing immigration fraud.”

Brown is also accused of joining the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014 and going AWOL the next year. DHS officials said he was taken into custody and discharged from the military “under other than honorable conditions in 2022.” Two years after the discharge, Brown applied to naturalize as a U.S. citizen based on prior military service in what DHS alleged was “another commission of fraud.”

According to ICE records, Brown is now at an immigration facility in El Paso. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has an attorney.