The Trump administration announced it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 12 foreign-born Americans who officials say committed crimes that qualify them for denaturalization.
In a press release Friday, Department of Justice officials said the DOJ had filed denaturalization actions against the individuals in courts across the country.
The move is the latest expansion in the federal government’s campaign targeting foreign-born Americans accused of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship.
“Individuals implicated in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system. Those who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law.”
The naturalized U.S. citizens the DOJ is targeting are from Bolivia, Colombia, Nigeria, Somalia, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Iran, India, and China.
The Department of Justice Building is seen, June 9, 2023, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
Some have been convicted of crimes in the United States, others have allegedly been convicted of crimes in their home country, and the rest are accused of committing immigration fraud.
According to the National Immigration Forum, denaturalization can occur only by judicial order. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services refers cases for civil and criminal denaturalization to the DOJ when there is “sufficient evidence” that an individual is subject to one of the grounds for denaturalization.
An individual whose U.S. citizenship is revoked returns to the immigration status they held before becoming a U.S. citizen, according to the group. That individual may face deportation if they do not have lawful immigration status after being denaturalized, and may also serve jail time if U.S. citizenship was revoked because of a criminal conviction.
