Traditionally, experts in the department’s office of #immigration litigation have handled #denaturalization cases. But the effort to enlist regular prosecutors to pursue these cases could lead to a surge in denaturalizations, which have been rare in recent decades. It also comes just months after #Trump admin officials ordered #DHS staffers to refer upward of 200 denaturalization cases a month to the #DOJ.
#DOJ Targets Hundreds of #Citizens in New Push for #Denaturalization
The #Trump admin is assigning denaturalization cases to regular prosecutors, which could lead to a surge of people stripped of US citizenship.
The DOJ has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose #citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of #USattorney’s offices across the country.
#law #immigration
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
“The message it sends is that naturalized citizens don’t have the same rights & stability as native-born citizens,” said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia. “The government has used this power in the past to target people it views as political opponents.”
#law #immigration #Trump #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism
Between 2017 & late last year, the government sought to strip just over 120 naturalized Americans of their #citizenship. Such cases were far less common before #Trump was first elected, said Ms. Frost, who has written about the history of #denaturalization. Between 1990 & 2017, the government filed 305 denaturalization cases, an average of 11 per year.
#law #immigration #Trump #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism
Under #federal #law, the government may ask a court to strip the #citizenship of people who obtained it fraudulently — for instance, by entering into a sham marriage or by withholding information about their past that would have made them ineligible. Some who commit crimes may also be denaturalized. The government must present evidence to a federal judge through a civil or criminal proceeding, making the process challenging & time-consuming.
Traditionally, experts in the department’s office of #immigration litigation have handled #denaturalization cases. But the effort to enlist regular prosecutors to pursue these cases could lead to a surge in denaturalizations, which have been rare in recent decades. It also comes just months after #Trump admin officials ordered #DHS staffers to refer upward of 200 denaturalization cases a month to the #DOJ.
#DOJ Targets Hundreds of #Citizens in New Push for #Denaturalization
The #Trump admin is assigning denaturalization cases to regular prosecutors, which could lead to a surge of people stripped of US citizenship.
The DOJ has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose #citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of #USattorney’s offices across the country.
#law #immigration
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Senior #DOJ officials in Washington told colleagues during a meeting last week that civil litigators in 39 regional offices would soon be assigned to file #denaturalization cases against the individuals, according to an official familiar with the announcement who was not authorized to describe it on the record. Two people familiar with the plans confirmed the broader effort to ramp up denaturalizations. It was not clear what led the DOJ to target the 384 individuals.
#DOJ Targets Hundreds of #Citizens in New Push for #Denaturalization
The #Trump admin is assigning denaturalization cases to regular prosecutors, which could lead to a surge of people stripped of US citizenship.
The DOJ has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose #citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of #USattorney’s offices across the country.
#law #immigration
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share