The agency in charge of granting citizenship and visas to immigrants is tired of getting duped by scammers and fraud lawyers and its new boss plans to fight back.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told Secrets that one of his top priorities will be to sniff out fraud among those trying to win citizenship, and take them to court.

“Anybody who lies to us about anything shouldn’t get whatever it is that they are asking for. And to me that’s pretty commonsensical,” he said.

Besides preserving citizenship for those who deserve or earn it, Cuccinelli said that the army of investigators and other officials at USCIS must be respected and not constantly lied to.

“We are taking steps to address all of these things ... I think to the great enthusiasm to the people here in the agency,” he said, adding, “I think we are going to put ourselves in a position to prosecute virtually all of these. And that’s very unique .”

Right now @USCIS faces an unprecedented number of aliens overwhelming our system, many of whom are ineligible for asylum. Our officers are working hard to determine who is able to safely relocate within their home country & who truly needs asylum in ours https://t.co/9VFUb67Y1W — USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) July 26, 2019

Officials said that some of those seeking visas and citizenship, and even lawyers representing them, have engaged in rampant fraud.

One typical example is marriage fraud.

“Marriage fraud ... is a high-level frustration, one for our folks who respect their own work. And when they see cheaters they want that dealt with. And it doesn’t respect their work and their effort and their commitment to making these legal processes legitimate if you just let the cheaters go,” said Cuccinelli.

“The reason marriage fraud is so important is because it is associated with citizenship, which is the most valuable thing that we offer here. Everything that we offer here is a privilege, not a right. No non-American has a right to anything that comes through USCIS,” he added.

And in several cases, lawyers for immigrants lie about their clients to get visas — and sometimes the immigrants don’t know their lawyer is committing fraud.

Just last month, for example, a Brooklyn man was charged with submitting over 1,800 fraudulent immigration applications on behalf of 1,000 migrants. In them, he claimed that the women were abuse victims and should get a green card to remain in the United States. But the Justice Department determined that the women were not abused, and never claimed to be.

The new efforts to stop fraud are part of a broader administration campaign to limit illegal immigration and close loopholes in the system.

Among groups advocating for tighter laws, Cuccinelli’s effort is winning raves.

"Previous administrations have tolerated far too much fraud in our immigration system, instead emphasizing swift approvals. This is unfair to the legitimate applicants, and presents a security risk,” said Jessica M. Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.

We don’t tolerate people who abuse and defraud our system. ⚖️Thanks to the hard work of our Fraud Detection and National Security officers and our law enforcement partners, this fraudster was convicted of 21 counts of H-1B visa fraud.🚔 https://t.co/9L1qIsr9Yv pic.twitter.com/gNiJT2Zh81 — USCIS (@USCIS) August 8, 2019

“His commitment to imposing more consequences on people who commit fraud will be a big help in reducing it, and that will help unclog the system for everyone,” she added.

Cuccinelli was blunt in his approach to going after fraudulent claims for citizenship, visas, and green cards.

“We want to get to the point of going after every single one of them. And I hope that relatively soon we will be doing that,” he said.

“The burden is on immigrants coming to us to justify whatever they want from us,” he said.