Justice Department moves to strip citizenship from 10 naturalized Americans
Cases, spanning serious crimes to identity fraud, mark sharp expansion of administration's denaturalization drive — and warning to 25 million naturalized citizens
WASHINGTON (MNTV) — The Justice Department has filed cases to revoke the citizenship of 10 naturalized Americans it accuses of hiding criminal histories or lying during immigration proceedings, a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to cancel citizenships it deems improperly granted.
Filed in federal courts across several states, the cases involve allegations ranging from child sexual abuse and healthcare fraud to identity deception and drug trafficking.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, naturalized citizenship can be revoked if it was obtained illegally or by deliberately concealing material facts.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would keep pursuing those accused of fraudulently obtaining citizenship, and framed the effort as protecting the integrity of the system.
Among the cases: a former healthcare provider accused of concealing nearly $900,000 in fraudulent Medicare claims before naturalizing, and a former priest convicted of child sexual abuse before and after becoming a citizen.
The specific allegations are serious, and denaturalization has long existed for genuine fraud.
What has changed is scale and intent. Denaturalization was historically an exceptional remedy, used rarely; turning it into a standing campaign — with the department promising more complaints to come — creates a category of Americans whose citizenship is provisional in a way that birthright citizenship never is.
That two-tier effect is the civil rights concern: 25 million naturalized citizens invited to wonder whether an old paperwork error could someday cost them their status.
The government must still prove each case in federal court before any citizenship is revoked, a safeguard that matters precisely because the campaign is expanding. The narrower the tool stays, the less it threatens the millions who obtained citizenship honestly.
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