Faustin Nsabumukunzi, a 65-year-old Rwandan national, entered the United States in September 2004 as a refugee after applying for status with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (USINS) in August 2003. During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Nsabumukunzi, an ethnic Hutu, served as a sector councilor in Kibirizi, Nyaruhengri commune, Butare prefecture, in southern Rwanda. In this leadership role, he orchestrated atrocities against ethnic Tutsis, setting up roadblocks to detain them, directing Hutu militias to commit murders and rapes, and personally participating in violence. On April 21, 1994, he led an attack at his administrative office, striking Tutsis with a club and referring to their bodies as “garbage” or “trash” after ordering their removal. He concealed these actions in his 2003 refugee application for entry into the U.S., when it appears that he falsely claimed to be a simple beekeeper with no criminal history. In 2006, he applied for Lawful Permanent Residence via Form I-485, allegedly lying about his past again, and USCIS approved his green card on November 14, 2007.
In 2008, a Rwandan community-based court convicted Nsabumukunzi in absentia for genocide, sentencing him to life imprisonment; this would have been an available record to the U.S. government. In September 2009, Nsabumukunzi filed a Form N-400 for naturalization, denying involvement in persecution or crimes. USCIS failed to detect his 2008 conviction, marking the first missed opportunity. In 2014, the Public Prosecutor of Rwanda also indicted Nsabumukunzi for crimes related to the genocide. On January 13, 2015, during an N-400 interview, he allegedly perjured himself under oath by denying his genocidal past, but USCIS did not uncover it, constituting a second missed opportunity. However, the application was denied on April 27, 2015, for unrelated reasons of “failure to establish good moral character”. Additionally, in 2016, Interpol Rwanda issued a Red Notice for his wanted status.
On June 21, 2016, Nsabumukunzi filed a second Form N-400, again allegedly lying about his past, with the application still pending as of June 2025. On August 7, 2020, he renewed his Permanent Resident Card via Form I-90, submitting photocopies of his existing card. USCIS missed his Red Notice and Rwandan conviction, a third missed opportunity. Between 2021 and 2023, Nsabumukunzi traveled internationally, including extended stays in Togo, returning to the U.S. on March 17, 2023, using a refugee travel document. On May 20, 2023, he filed a Form I-131 for travel to South Africa and Madagascar, explicitly claiming to search for relatives who may still be alive after the Rwandan Genocide. USCIS’s failure to detect his criminal history during this process marks the fourth missed opportunity.
On April 24, 2025, ICE Homeland Security Investigations arrested Nsabumukunzi in Bridgehampton, N.Y. On April 22, 2025, he was indicted on three counts: visa fraud under 18 U.S.C. §1546(a) for false statements from 2007 to 2023; attempted unlawful procurement of naturalization under 18 U.S.C. §1425(a) for perjury in his 2016 application; and attempted procurement of naturalization when not entitled under 18 U.S.C. §1425(b) due to knowledge of his lack of good moral character from genocide participation. Each charge carries a maximum ten-year penalty. He faces potential extradition to Rwanda. Upon hearing the charges, he reportedly said, “I know I’m finished.” Credible eyewitnesses, including former neighbors in Rwanda, identified him as a genocide leader.
Despite being a flight risk due to frequent international travel, Judge Joanna Seybert released him on a $250,000 bond. Reportedly, a wealthy Hamptonite paid Nsabumukunzi’s bond so that his beekeeping services would be uninterrupted; this claim is unconfirmed. Furthermore, the DOJ notes that there is reason to believe the defendant is currently unemployed.
The case, pending in the Eastern District of New York as of August 2025, highlights four post-2008 USCIS failures: the September 2009 naturalization application; the January 13, 2015 interview; the August 7, 2020 green card renewal; and the May 20, 2023 travel document application. These allowed a convicted genocidaire to live in the U.S. for a continued 17 years undetected, despite a myriad of available records and international alerts. Furthermore, the mere fact that Nsabumukunzi was a Rwandan adult man by 1994 should have alerted USCIS authorities about any potential criminal history. Additionally, on at least one occasion, Nsabumukunzi explicitly mentioned the genocide to government officials; this, too, should have prompted some kind of research.