The defendant, Sead Miljkovic, also known as Sead Dukic, is accused of submitting false information across multiple immigration applications over more than a decade, including misrepresenting his name, date and place of birth, marital history, and family relationships, according to the complaint.
“This Administration will not permit aliens to come to this country and hide their past to acquire the precious gift of U.S. citizenship,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Decades might pass, but when we find you, we will take action.”
Federal prosecutors say Miljkovic was born in 1972 in Bihac, within Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served as a police officer for the security forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (APZB), a breakaway state that emerged during the Bosnian War.
Bosnian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Miljkovic on Jan. 23, 2007, leading to an INTERPOL Red Notice. Prosecutors say the notice alleges that on June 18, 1994, Miljkovic and others beat 12 civilians with wooden bats and locked them in a morgue for five days without access to light or water.
One count in the complaint alleges he committed “acts of torture against unarmed prisoners in Bosnia while specifically intending to inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering.”
After the APZB collapsed in 1995, prosecutors say Miljkovic fled to Slovenia and applied twice to enter the United States under his real name. Both applications were denied.
In 1999, he applied a third time using the fictitious name “Sead Dukic,” listing a different birth year, birthplace, a different father’s name, and a different wife. During a U.S. government interview in Croatia, prosecutors say he swore under oath that the information was true. That application was approved.
Using the false identity, Miljkovic later applied for permanent residency and naturalization, repeatedly answering “No” when asked whether he had ever used other names, lied to U.S. officials, or provided false information to obtain immigration benefits, according to the complaint. He became a U.S. citizen in April 2007.
Federal prosecutors later charged Miljkovic with passport fraud and torture. In June 2025, he agreed to plead guilty to one count of passport fraud, admitting he falsified his name and date of birth on U.S. government applications.