Justice Department targets ex-Marine in denaturalization case over later crime

The Justice Department is pressing a denaturalization case against Nicholas Eshun, a Ghana-born former Marine, in a move that tests how far the government can reach when the alleged misconduct happened after naturalization rather than during the citizenship process.

Eshun became a U.S. citizen in 2013 through a military-service provision after enlisting in the Marine Corps in October 2011. Prosecutors say that after he naturalized, he was court-martialed for attempting to sexually abuse someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl, but the person was actually an undercover Naval Criminal Investigative Service officer. He was dishonorably discharged on May 16, 2016, after 4.5 years of service.

The case matters because denaturalization has usually been tied to fraud, concealment or misrepresentation in the naturalization process itself. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citizenship can be revoked if it was illegally procured or obtained through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation. Civil denaturalization can be brought at any time, while criminal denaturalization carries a 10-year limit from the alleged unlawful naturalization.

Eshun’s case leans on a different legal hook: 8 U.S.C. § 1440(c), which allows denaturalization of servicemembers who do not complete five years of honorable service. That makes the government’s theory unusual, because it centers on later conduct and a service requirement rather than a false statement on the application. If the case succeeds, it could broaden the practical reach of denaturalization beyond classic fraud cases and into post-naturalization conduct that triggers a statutory condition.

The filing landed as the department has stepped up denaturalization efforts more broadly. On May 8, 2026, the Justice Department announced actions against 12 people accused of offenses including terrorist support, war crimes, espionage and sexual abuse, saying it was pursuing denaturalization at “record speeds” and using “every lawful tool.” A June 11, 2025 memo from Brett A. Shumate directed attorneys to maximize denaturalization proceedings where the evidence and law permit, with priority for national-security cases and allegations involving torture, war crimes, human trafficking and human-rights abuses.

The push stands out against the historical record. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center says denaturalization cases averaged just 11 a year from 1990 through 2017, then rose to about 25 a year during the first Trump administration. NBC News reported in April 2026 that the administration was targeting at least 300 foreign-born Americans for possible citizenship revocation, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services expected to supply 100 to 200 potential cases a month.

For the Justice Department, Eshun’s case is more than one former Marine’s fate. It is a test of whether denaturalization can be used not only to punish fraud, but to police later behavior in ways that could expand the government’s power over citizenship itself.