Trump administration seeks to ramp up denaturalization of some US citizens, New York Times reports
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to step up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of U.S. citizenship, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing internal guidance.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance released Tuesday asks field offices to “provide 100-200 denaturalization cases per month to the Office of Immigration Litigation” in the next fiscal year 2026, according to the newspaper.
This marks a dramatic increase in denaturalization cases, which were about 11 per year between 1990 and 2017, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
Under U.S. law, a person can be stripped of citizenship for a variety of reasons, including illegally acquiring U.S. citizenship and misrepresenting a material fact during the naturalization process.
The timeline for denationalization cases varies, but they can take years to resolve.
A USCIS spokesperson said it’s no secret that the agency’s “war on fraud” prioritizes people who illegally obtained U.S. citizenship, particularly under the previous administration.
“We will continue with denaturalization proceedings for people who lie or misrepresent themselves during the naturalization process,” the spokesman said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been pursuing an aggressive immigration agenda since January, including imposing travel bans and attempting to end birthright citizenship.
His administration most recently paused immigration applications, including green cards and U.S. citizenship, by immigrants from 19 countries outside Europe.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington Editing by Rod Nickel)
