Trump administration files record 40 denaturalization cases against naturalized US citizens

The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had filed 40 denaturalization cases against naturalized American citizens, marking what federal prosecutors called the largest such effort in modern history. The petitions, submitted between late August and early October, targeted individuals accused of serious crimes: money laundering, child sexual abuse, visa fraud, tax evasion, and in two cases, espionage on behalf of China. Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the action as essential to national security, saying the administration would continue using denaturalization "to maintain our national security and protect the American people."

The 40 people targeted came from countries including Mexico, Pakistan, China, and Sierra Leone. What connected them, according to prosecutors, was that they had concealed criminal acts or material facts during their citizenship applications—facts that, had they been disclosed, would have disqualified them from naturalization. Most of their criminal convictions came after they had already taken the oath of citizenship. The government's legal argument rested on a straightforward premise: because they lacked "good moral character" at the time they obtained citizenship, that citizenship should never have been granted and could now be revoked.

Denaturalization is not new. After World War II, the U.S. government used it against dozens of citizens accused of concealing involvement in the Holocaust or war crimes. Emma Goldman, a Lithuanian-born anarchist and women's rights activist, was denaturalized and deported to the Soviet Union in 1921 after being jailed for antiwar activities. But the practice faded sharply after the Cold War ended. Under current law, prosecutors can petition courts to strip citizenship from foreign-born naturalized citizens if they wilfully concealed material facts during their application process.

The Trump administration's expansion of denaturalization is part of a larger push to conduct what officials have described as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But the strategy has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations, which warn that aggressive denaturalization could render people stateless—leaving them without citizenship in any country. Critics have also raised concerns that the administration has weaponized denaturalization against specific groups it views as political opponents or enemies.

Last year, the Trump administration signaled it would seek to denaturalize large numbers of Somali Americans following allegations of daycare fraud involving the Somali diaspora in Minnesota. Trump himself wrote at the time that Somali Americans should be "sent back from where they came, Somalia, perhaps the worst, and most corrupt, country on earth." The administration has also floated denaturalizing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, with Trump falsely suggesting Mamdani may be in the country illegally. At one point, Trump even proposed stripping citizenship from tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, a close administration adviser, after the two had a falling-out in 2025.

Parallel to denaturalization efforts, Trump has pushed to eliminate birthright citizenship—the constitutional guarantee that virtually all children born in the U.S. are automatically citizens. In June, the Supreme Court struck down his initial attempt to dismantle birthright citizenship, but the president issued a second executive order seeking to restrict how it is applied. Birthright citizenship, unlike naturalized citizenship, cannot be revoked in the same way, as it is protected directly by the Constitution. The denaturalization cases announced Monday represent a different legal avenue—one that applies only to those born outside the country who later became citizens through the naturalization process.