After once pledging that his mass deportation plans would only target the “worst of the worst,” CNN reported this week that President Donald Trump is “significantly intensifying” his campaign against naturalized U.S. citizens.
On Thursday, CNN reported that the Trump administration planned to file “at least 250” denaturalization cases by October, citing comments from a “senior Justice Department official,” seeking to revoke their citizenship status. This comes after the administration “filed 29 denaturalization cases targeting foreign-born Americans whom it accuses of fraudulently obtaining US citizenship” in just two months this year. Government records indicate that roughly 8 million people have become naturalized citizens in the last 10 years.
Those initial numbers already well exceed the average over the last few decades, with CNN noting that only 166 denaturalization cases were filed between 2008 and June 12 of this year, “an annual average of less than 10.” The federal government can only legally strip citizenship from those who obtained it through the naturalization process, not native born citizens, with most cases stemming from allegations of fraud tied to the process itself, such as misrepresenting one’s eligibility for receiving citizenship.
Trump made big promises about deporting a massive number of undocumented immigrants during his second term, and though he initially said that dangerous criminals would be the main focus, his administration almost immediately began targeting any and all undocumented individuals with heavy force. This wide-ranging initiative frequently ended up targeting immigrants with legal status, as well as citizens, both native-born and naturalized, as the administration scrambled to meet its lofty goal of one million deportations annually.
To this end, CNN noted that resources are being pulled from other parts of the federal government.
“The push is part of President Donald Trump’s broader, aggressive immigration agenda — which has gone well beyond targeting people in the country illegally — and reveals how federal agencies have shifted resources to prioritize that agenda,” CNN detailed. “Behind the scenes, the Justice Department has pulled civil litigators from various divisions — including those assigned to investigating fraud, which the administration has flaunted as another top priority — to pursue denaturalization cases, according to the senior DOJ official. The cases are also being sent to US attorney offices at a time when many are already under immense strain.”
It continued: “The cases filed by the Trump administration so far include people who are accused of committing fraud, sexual abuse of a minor or expressed support for terrorism before or during the naturalization process. The federal government has the authority in federal statute to move toward revoking citizenship of an individual if they made false statements that were relevant to the naturalization process or if the citizenship was illegally procured, meaning they weren’t eligible for it. Denaturalization cases generally fall under one of those categories and then proceed as civil or criminal cases depending on the circumstances.”