Trump administration expands denaturalization push against 17 naturalized citizens

The Justice Department filed denaturalization actions against 17 naturalized citizens, turning a rarely used legal remedy into the centerpiece of a broader Trump administration push to revoke citizenship. The cases, brought in various U.S. district courts, were described by the administration as the largest-ever effort to strip U.S. citizenship.

The government said the 17 people were accused of serious offenses including sexual abuse of a minor, wire and bank fraud, and distributing drugs wholesale without a license. Officials have framed the campaign as a crackdown on fraud and abuse of the naturalization system, but the legal hurdle is high: under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citizenship can be revoked only if it was illegally procured or obtained through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.

That standard places the burden on the government to persuade a federal judge in civil or criminal court to take away citizenship, a step civil-liberties advocates have long said should remain exceptional. Denaturalization has historically been rare because it reaches the core of constitutional belonging, making the fight about more than the allegations in any single case. The question now is whether the administration is pursuing a narrowly targeted enforcement campaign or building a broader executive power over naturalized Americans.

The June 8 filings followed an earlier round of cases in May, when the Justice Department opened denaturalization proceedings against roughly a dozen naturalized citizens accused of immigration fraud, serious crimes, or ties to terrorism. In another recent case, the department said it secured denaturalization of two people and filed suit to revoke the citizenship of a third person over fraud and marriage fraud.

The latest move also fits within a wider immigration crackdown that has reached beyond deportation and border enforcement. The administration has imposed pauses and restrictions on some legal immigration pathways, including citizenship-related processing for nationals of multiple countries, deepening concern that the pressure on naturalized Americans could expand well beyond the 17 cases now in court.