The Trump administration has announced plans to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud. This move is part of a bigger denaturalization campaign, which is being called the largest such effort in U.S. history.
CBS News first reported these plans before the Justice Department made them public. Officials say the government is now using its “denaturalization powers” much more aggressively than before. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed only about 11 cases per year on average to remove citizenship, as reported first by CBS News.
Trump citizenship crackdown
Denaturalization means taking away U.S. citizenship from naturalized citizens if they got it through fraud or hiding important facts. The legal process is rare, complex, and must be proven in federal court before a judge.
The Trump administration has expanded the types of cases that can be prioritized for denaturalization since 2025. Last month, officials had already announced about a dozen such cases, which was the biggest action in years before this latest step, as stated by CBS News report.
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17 citizens targeted
The 17 targeted individuals include people convicted of serious crimes like child sexual abuse, fraud, and other criminal offenses. U.S. officials say some individuals hid criminal history or failed to meet the “good moral character” requirement when applying for citizenship.
The cases include people from different backgrounds, such as immigrants from Haiti, Mexico, former Yugoslavia, Colombia, the Philippines, Jamaica, Cuba, and India, as noted by CBS News.
One Indian immigrant is accused of filing fake H-1B visa petitions as part of immigration fraud allegations. Officials including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said there will be “zero tolerance” for abusing the citizenship system, as cited in the report by CBS News.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said citizenship must be “earned honestly” and can be taken away if laws are broken or lies are found in the process. If people are denaturalized, they lose U.S. citizenship and can return to previous immigration status, which may also expose them to deportation.
