Bucks County man and alleged bodyguard for Liberia’s ex-president sentenced to a year in jail for immigration fraud

A Liberian immigrant who prosecutors said was a bodyguard for the country’s former president and convicted war criminal Charles Taylor was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months in federal prison for lying on documents he used to seek legal residency in the United States, and later on a citizenship application.

Isiah Kangar’s alleged connections to Taylor — and any role Kangar may have played in back-to-back civil wars that roiled the West African nation two decades ago — were barely mentioned during a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney.

Instead, Kearney focused on the fact that Kangar — who for years has lived in Bristol, Bucks County — used his brother’s name while obtaining a green card, in applying for citizenship, and during interviews with immigration authorities during his 15 years in the country.

“Your crime is lying about who you are to stay in the United States,” Kearney said.

In an unusual twist, Kearney also spent time questioning how and when he should impose Kangar’s sentence because of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. While federal judges often give defendants convicted in nonviolent cases a few weeks or months to surrender, Kearney said that doing so in this case could expose Kangar to arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement before his prison term begins.

“Mr. Kangar, you understand if I defer this [surrender date], you are at some risk of being picked up in the interim by immigration authorities,” Kearney said, calling it a risk that “wasn’t true six months ago.”

Kangar said he understood but wanted time to prepare and arrange his affairs, particularly because the judge ordered him to be deported to Liberia after his term of incarceration ends.

Kangar also apologized for his deception. The 52-year-old pleaded guilty last year to counts including conspiracy, visa fraud, and unlawful procurement of U.S. citizenship. And although he did not say Tuesday why he had used his brother’s name on his paperwork, he said he lied because he wanted to remain in America to work and be able to send money back to his relatives in Liberia and South Africa.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Kangar told Kearney. “I do accept everything I’ve done, but I was just doing it for the support of my children.”

Kangar’s case was another example of how federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have used immigration cases in recent years to pursue those who took part in the Liberian wars. At least three other Liberian nationals living in the region have been convicted of deceiving immigration authorities by omitting mention of atrocities during the conflicts.

Until those prosecutions, there had been little criminal accountability for actions in Liberia in the 1990s and 2000s, when two civil wars left an estimated 200,000 civilians dead. (Taylor was convicted of war crimes in an international criminal court in 2011, but the charges stemmed from his conduct during a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.)

Still, unlike in the other cases, Kangar was not accused of wartime misconduct. And prosecutors mentioned his alleged association with Taylor only as part of his background, saying he had admitted being associated with Taylor during a failed bid for asylum in South Africa in 2006.

Kangar’s attorney, Jack McMahon, said that wasn’t true. Kangar, he said, had simply made up an association with Taylor to try to bolster his chances of being admitted to South Africa as a refugee.

The criminal charges against Kangar focused narrowly on his use of his brother’s name on immigration documents in the United States — beginning in 2009, when he first applied for a visa, and continuing as he obtained and renewed his green cards over the years, and even when he had a naturalization interview in 2022 as he sought to become a citizen.

The prolonged course of conduct, Kearney said, is what merited a 12-month sentence. The judge said he would wait to officially impose the penalty for a few weeks to avoid triggering potential apprehension by immigration authorities, but said that once he did so, Kangar would need to surrender immediately to begin serving time behind bars.

“It’s not just one instance” of lying, the judge said. “You lied repeatedly to stay here.”