Justice Department ramps up denaturalization push with 12 new cases

The Justice Department on Friday announced a dozen new denaturalization cases, the latest step in the Trump administration’s push to strip U.S. citizenship from individuals accused of hiding serious crimes and committing immigration fraud.

The announcement marked a significant escalation in the federal government’s pursuit of such cases, which for decades prosecutors have filed only in rare instances. From 1990 to 2017, the Justice Department filed an average of 11 cases per year, according to federal data.

“The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday. “Those who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law.”

The cases, filed in federal courts in nine states and the District of Columbia, come as the Justice and Homeland Security departments have moved to increase the focus on the denaturalization efforts.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has pushed to refer up to 200 potential cases a month to federal prosecutors. A Justice Department official said hundreds of individuals have been referred to U.S. attorney’s offices. Most of them have already been investigated for or convicted of other crimes and were identified as candidates for denaturalization, the official said.

Federal law allows the government to seek to strip citizenship from individuals who fail to disclose criminal activity or commit immigration fraud during their naturalization process.

In the announcement Friday, the Justice Department said prosecutors filed cases against naturalized citizens from 11 countries, including Iraq, Colombia, China, Nigeria and Somalia. Authorities said many of the individuals had committed serious offenses — including murder, terrorist acts, weapons trafficking and child sexual abuse — before they were naturalized and failed to disclose that information on their citizenship applications.

In four cases, individuals are being accused of having used false identities to apply for citizenship or committed marriage fraud. In one case, a man originally from India is accused of having embezzled $2.5 million.

Mariam Masumi Daud, an immigration lawyer in Northern Virginia, called the administration’s approach “very troubling” because the federal government has traditionally sought to strip citizenship only from people who have committed the most serious offenses, such as war criminals.

“At this point, the administration isn’t really being selective; they’re being very sweeping,” Masumi Daud said. “That makes it very concerning, especially when you have a quota system. They’re pursuing a number.”

During Trump’s first term, his administration also sought to ramp up denaturalization, filing 25 to 42 cases a year from 2017 to 2020. The Biden administration filed an average of 16 cases per year, federal authorities said.

Immigration lawyers, however, cautioned that such cases can be time-consuming and difficult for the government to win.

“It really comes down to whether the government can meet the very high burden of proof,” Masumi Daud said.

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• Jeremy Roebuck contributed.