DOJ Expands Denaturalization Efforts

The Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it seeks to revoke, marking the initial wave of a broader crackdown on immigration fraud. These cases will be handled by prosecutors in 39 U.S. attorney's offices nationwide.

The administration has directed Department of Homeland Security staffers to refer up to 200 denaturalization cases per month to the Justice Department. This represents a dramatic increase from an average of 11 cases annually between 1990 and 2017, as reported by The Conversation.

The policy shift comes amid a severe staffing crisis within the Justice Department, which has lost nearly 1,000 assistant U.S. attorneys due to resignations and firings. The strategy of distributing cases regionally appears designed to both increase capacity and mitigate the expertise gap caused by staff departures.

Critics argue that denaturalization risks becoming a tool of political control and intimidation. The lack of a statute of limitations in civil denaturalization gives prosecutors what the Supreme Court warned against: "nearly limitless leverage" over naturalized citizens, potentially affecting over 20 million individuals.

Denaturalization differs from deportation as it involves stripping U.S. citizenship after it has been granted, turning individuals into noncitizens who can then be deported. The government must prove that someone "illegally procured" citizenship by not meeting requirements or through lies or omissions during the citizenship process.

The Trump administration's approach, outlined in a June 2025 Justice Department memo, involves pursuing any case where evidence might support revoking citizenship, regardless of priority level or strength of evidence. This has already led to cases like that of Baljinder Singh, whose citizenship was revoked based on a name discrepancy.

Historically, denaturalization has been rare but increased during the Red Scare period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Supreme Court's 1967 decision in Afroyim v. Rusk limited denaturalization to cases involving fraud during the citizenship process, making it extremely rare until recent years.

The current policy raises concerns about due process and constitutional rights. In civil denaturalization cases, defendants do not receive free legal counsel, jury trials, or the high burden of proof required in criminal lawsuits. The lower burden of proof and lack of time limits create a system where naturalized citizens face ongoing vulnerability.

The Justice Department's memo establishes 10 priority categories for denaturalization cases, ranging from national security threats to various forms of fraud. This "maximal enforcement" approach has created fear within immigrant communities, with about 20 million naturalized Americans potentially affected.