The Department of Justice has announced that it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of a dozen people, in a move that signals a major escalation of the Trump administration’s push toward denaturalization.
The DOJ is looking to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born American citizens who are accused of having obtained U.S. citizenship fraudulently. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, “The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system.”
The news comes as the DOJ has made denaturalization a priority under current guidance, and have reassigned staff to identify more potential cases, but signals a dramatic increase in how the federal government is using denaturalization, a legal procedure that is both lengthy and complicated, and has rarely been used by prior administration.
Why It Matters
President Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration upon his return to the White House. But his administration has also been focused on those who entered the U.S. legally. Multiple reports have shown immigrants being detained at interviews for green cards and citizenship.
In April, the Trump administration told Newsweek it planned to drastically increase the number of denaturalizations, in the latest effort from the White House to crackdown on legal immigration.
In April, a DOJ official said 15 people had their U.S. citizenship removed since January of 2025, out of 22 total cases filed. This is a significant shift from precedent. From 1990 through to 2017, the DOJ filed just over 300 denaturalization cases, an average of 11 each year.
What To Know
The group of 12 individuals whom the Justice Department seeks to revoke citizenship from includes immigrants from Bolivia, China, Colombia, Gambia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia and Uzbekistan.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a press release, “This Department of Justice continues to file denaturalization actions at record speeds to restore integrity in our naturalization process.”
The group includes a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, a man with alleged ties to al Qaeda, born in Morocco and a former Gambian police officer who had allegedly been involved in war crimes.
It also includes individuals who are alleged to have used false identities to apply for immigration benefits.
The Justice Department said in a separate announcement on Friday that it is seeking to denaturalize Manuel Rocha, a former American diplomat who had admitted to being a Cuban spy.
How US Citizens Can Be Denaturalized
Denaturalization is the legal process by which the U.S. government revokes citizenship from someone who obtained it through naturalization.
It applies only to naturalized citizens, never to those who are citizens by birth. Under current law, denaturalization can happen only through a federal court order—either in a civil lawsuit or following a criminal conviction for naturalization fraud.
A person may be denaturalized if they were never actually eligible for citizenship at the time it was granted, even without intentional wrongdoing. This includes failing to meet requirements such as lawful permanent residence, physical presence, good moral character, or attachment to the Constitution.
Denaturalization can also occur when someone intentionally lies or hides important information during the naturalization process. In some cases, affiliation with prohibited groups, such as terrorist or totalitarian organizations, within a limited period after naturalization can also trigger denaturalization.
The denaturalization process proceeds either through civil litigation or criminal prosecution. Civil cases require the government to meet a very high standard of proof—clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence that citizenship was unlawfully obtained. Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and citizenship is revoked automatically upon conviction for naturalization fraud.
If a person is denaturalized, they return to the immigration status they held before naturalizing.
What the US Supreme Court Has Said About Denaturalization?
The administration’s recent signals about expanding denaturalization—framed around reversing immigration policies and tightening ideological standards—collide with nearly a century of Supreme Court precedent that sharply limits when citizenship can be revoked.
The Court has consistently held that denaturalization is a narrow, fraud‑based remedy, not a tool for political punishment or broad immigration enforcement. These longstanding constraints now shape the legal boundaries of any modern effort to widen revocation.
For decades, the Court has emphasized that citizenship may be stripped only when it was unlawfully procured, and only with rigorous proof. Proposals to revoke citizenship from individuals who undermine domestic tranquillity or are deemed incompatible with Western civilization have no basis in existing law.
Immigration scholars note that denaturalization remains extremely limited, rooted solely in fraud or the concealment of material facts, and attempts to expand it risk colliding with First Amendment protections.
What Happens Next
The administration’s push to widen denaturalization is likely to trigger rapid legal challenges.
The government can increase file reviews and investigations, but the stripping of citizenship will likely be met with significant judicial resistance.
