President Trump’s DOJ is moving to revoke U.S. citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans accused of immigration fraud, serious crimes, or other disqualifying conduct.
Justice Department officials described it as the largest-ever effort by the federal government to use its denaturalization powers.
The targets include people accused or convicted in cases involving child sex offenses, fraud crimes, immigration fraud, false identities, and concealment during the naturalization process.
This is what enforcement looks like when the people in charge believe citizenship actually means something.
Federal law has long allowed denaturalization when the government proves citizenship was obtained illegally or through fraud, including the concealment of relevant criminal conduct.
The 17 targets can challenge the government filings in federal court. If they are denaturalized, they lose the legal benefits of citizenship and typically revert to their prior immigration status.
CBS News reported these details on the new denaturalization push:
The Trump administration on Monday plans to announce it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud, expanding its unprecedented denaturalization campaign, CBS News has exclusively learned.
Justice Department officials said the move represents the largest-ever effort by the U.S. government to use its denaturalization powers, which were rarely invoked before President Trump returned to the White House last year with promises to launch a historic deportation blitz. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed an average of just 11 legal complaints per year seeking to denaturalize American citizens, historical figures indicate.
Federal law has long allowed the government to try to denaturalize foreign-born U.S. citizens who officials believe committed fraud to obtain their citizenship, such as by concealing information, like criminal conduct, on their immigration applications. But the process has been historically lengthy, complex and seldom exercised, requiring officials to persuade judges to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship in civil or criminal proceedings in federal court.
The Trump administration has sought to vastly escalate denaturalization efforts as part of its larger crackdown on illegal and legal immigration.
In 2025, the Justice Department broadened the categories of naturalized citizens who should be prioritized for denaturalization. Last month, officials announced a dozen denaturalization cases, at the time the largest such effort in years.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made clear where the department stands.
Blanche said the Justice Department would have zero tolerance for abuse of the naturalization process.
That is the standard. People who lied to obtain citizenship while hiding serious crimes are not entitled to keep a benefit they secured through fraud.
None of this changes the status of citizens who came here the right way and told the truth.
The cases turn on the conduct of people who allegedly concealed crimes, used false identities, or committed fraud to get a result they never qualified for.
The government now has to prove its claims in federal court, and the targets get their day to respond.
For years, naturalization fraud was treated as a paperwork problem nobody wanted to touch. This administration is treating it as exactly what it is.
Earn your citizenship honestly and you have nothing to fear. Lie your way in while hiding serious crimes and the door can swing the other way.
https://wltreport.com/2026/06/08/president-trumps-doj-moves-to-strip-citizenship-from-17-in-largest-denaturalization-push-ever/
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