PHILADELPHIA, PA — A former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in federal prison for accepting $6,000 to help alter an individual’s immigration file, concluding a bribery case involving alleged misuse of government employment over a decade.
Amara Dukuly, 44, of Woodlyn, Pennsylvania, also received three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and $6,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. U.S. District Judge John Milton Younge imposed the sentence.
Dukuly pleaded guilty in March to aiding and abetting the bribery of a public official in exchange for an official act. He had been arrested on a criminal complaint and warrant in June 2025 and indicted the following month.
Federal prosecutors said court filings and statements showed Dukuly used his position at USCIS from about 2015 through 2025 to solicit bribes from people while promising assistance with their immigration status.
The conduct underlying the conviction involved a $6,000 payment Dukuly accepted on April 4, 2025, according to prosecutors.
Federal authorities said the individual paid Dukuly for help removing references to “terrorist” from the person’s immigration file. Prosecutors said Dukuly promised that once the references were removed, the file would be “clean.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not identify the individual in its release.
The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Livermore prosecuted it.
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