SouthernWorldwide.com – The Trump administration has significantly ramped up its campaign to strip U.S. citizenship from individuals accused of obtaining it fraudulently.
The Justice Department announced new denaturalization cases in federal courts nationwide. These cases target approximately a dozen foreign-born U.S. citizens alleged to have committed serious crimes, immigration fraud, or to have connections to terrorism.
This initiative marks a substantial increase in the federal government’s use of denaturalization. This legal process is lengthy and complex, and has been used sparingly by previous administrations.
For context, between 1990 and 2017, the U.S. government initiated just over 300 denaturalization cases. This averages out to about 11 cases per year.
The individuals whose citizenship the Justice Department now seeks to revoke come from various countries. These include Bolivia, China, Colombia, Gambia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, and Uzbekistan.
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Among the targeted individuals are a Catholic priest born in Colombia, convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Another is a man from Morocco with alleged links to al Qaeda.
Also named is a Somali immigrant who pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Shabaab, a designated terrorist group. A former Gambian police officer is also implicated, allegedly involved in war crimes.
The group also includes individuals accused of using false identities to apply for immigration benefits. One man is accused of engaging in sham marriages to commit immigration fraud.
In a separate announcement on the same Friday, the Justice Department stated it is also pursuing denaturalization against Manuel Rocha. Rocha is a former American diplomat who admitted to being a Cuban spy.
The denaturalization process involves Justice Department attorneys filing civil or criminal cases in federal courts. They aim to persuade judges that a person’s citizenship should be revoked.
U.S. law permits denaturalization if the government proves a naturalized citizen acquired citizenship illegally or through fraud. This often involves concealing information on immigration applications.
Individuals whose citizenship is revoked lose all associated legal benefits. They revert to their previous legal status, typically as permanent residents. Permanent residents can be deportable based on certain criminal conduct and other grounds.
In an earlier interview, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche discussed the administration’s stepped-up denaturalization efforts. He expressed belief that “a lot of individuals who are citizens who shouldn’t be.”
When questioned about concerns among the approximately 24 million naturalized citizens in the U.S., Blanche assured that only “a very small percentage” should be worried.
He stated that those who did not illegally obtain their citizenship “have anything to worry about.”
“We should disincentivize people from committing fraud when they’re going to become a citizen of this great country,” Blanche remarked. He emphasized that it is a drastic consequence for committing fraud to gain citizenship, just as it is a drastic action to commit fraud to obtain citizenship.
