In May 2021 a former internal‑medicine doctor in Northeast Ohio, Dr. Mohammed Alhallaq, was sentenced to four years in federal prison after admitting he poisoned his pregnant girlfriend with mifepristone and misoprostol in 2014.
Alhallaq arrived in the United States on an H‑1B visa in 2006, became a lawful permanent resident in 2011, and began practising medicine in 2012, quickly establishing a steady patient base in Cleveland’s suburbs.
The incident unfolded in December 2014 when Alhallaq slipped the abortion medication into the couple’s oatmeal, intending to terminate the pregnancy without the woman’s knowledge.
The victim discovered the truth only years later, filed a police report, and Alhallaq was indicted on March 18, 2021, on one count of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault.
Despite the pending charges, Alhallaq filed a Form N‑400 in 2017, answered "no" to questions about criminal activity, and was naturalised on May 4, 2018.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has now launched a denaturalisation proceeding; Alhallaq faces up to ten years’ imprisonment for the fraud and could lose his citizenship.