They took the oath. They passed the tests. They became Americans. Now, the government wants to take it all back.
The Trump administration asked federal courts this week to revoke the citizenship of 12 immigrants who committed crimes or took other actions that officials say disqualify them from being Americans. The Department of Justice filed the cases in federal courts across the country on Thursday and Friday, signaling that it plans to make good on a pledge to increase the rate of denaturalizations.
The individuals whose citizenship it seeks to revoke in this wave of cases are alleged to have obtained their status through fraud, by lying about past criminal acts, or by demonstrating allegiance to terror groups after obtaining their citizenship.
The message from the Justice Department is unmistakable: citizenship, once considered permanent, is now up for review.
The First Wave
Late last year, Department of Homeland Security officials were told to refer upward of 200 cases for denaturalization a month. Justice Department officials across the United States were advised recently to prepare to take on nearly 400 cases as part of a first wave of revocations. The 12 cases filed this week are just the beginning.
“Individuals implicated in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens,” said Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, in a statement. “The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system.”
The language is aggressive. The message is clear: the administration believes that past mistakes in the naturalization process must be corrected — even if those mistakes happened years ago and even if the individuals have been living as American citizens for decades.
The Rare Power of Denaturalization
While the government has revoked citizenship in the past, it has done so sparingly because the process is difficult and because citizenship is generally revered. Denaturalization requires the government to prove that citizenship was obtained fraudulently or illegally. The burden of proof is high. The legal process is time-consuming.
The Trump administration, however, has indicated that it will use every power at its disposal to expel immigrants it considers undeserving of their presence in the United States. The denaturalization push is part of a broader clampdown on immigration that has already affected those who have been in the country legally, including students, workers, and permanent residents.
The wave of cases, including for actions conducted years ago, could unnerve communities of naturalized American citizens already on edge at President Trump’s clampdown on immigration. It could send a message that naturalized citizens have less security than natural-born citizens.
The Targeted Individuals
The 12 individuals whose citizenship is being challenged are accused of a range of misconduct. Some allegedly obtained their status through fraud or by lying about past criminal acts during the naturalization process. Others are accused of demonstrating allegiance to terror groups after becoming citizens.
The government did not release the names of the targeted individuals. It did not specify which countries they originally came from or when they were naturalized. What is clear is that the administration is not waiting for new crimes to be committed. It is looking backward — at actions that may have occurred years or even decades ago.
For naturalized citizens, that retrospective scrutiny is deeply unsettling. If the government can review past applications for fraud or past conduct for terror ties, no naturalized citizen can feel entirely secure.
The Legal and Political Context
Denaturalization has rarely been invoked in the past. Between 1990 and 2017, the government filed an average of just 11 denaturalization cases per year. The Biden administration filed more, but still far fewer than the hundreds the Trump administration is now signaling.
The move is likely to face legal challenges. Defenders of immigrants’ rights argue that denaturalization should be reserved for the most egregious cases of fraud — not used as a tool for mass revocation. They also argue that the administration’s focus on past conduct, including allegations of terror ties that may be difficult to prove, raises due process concerns.
But the Trump administration is moving forward. Acting Attorney General Blanche has made clear that the administration sees denaturalization as a necessary tool to correct what it views as systemic failures in the immigration system.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration asked federal courts this week to revoke the citizenship of 12 immigrants, marking the first wave of what officials signal will be a significant increase in denaturalization cases. The individuals are accused of obtaining citizenship through fraud, lying about past criminal acts, or demonstrating allegiance to terror groups after becoming citizens. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said such individuals “should never have been naturalized.”
Late last year, DHS officials were told to refer upward of 200 cases for denaturalization a month. Justice Department officials have been advised to prepare for nearly 400 cases as part of a first wave. Denaturalization has been used sparingly in the past because the process is difficult and citizenship is generally revered. The Trump administration is now testing how far that reverence extends.
The message to naturalized citizens is clear: your citizenship is not as secure as you thought. And for the 12 individuals now facing revocation, the oath they took may be undone.
