Trump officials pursue record number of cases to strip US citizenship

The U.S. Justice Department announced it has filed 40 denaturalisation petitions against naturalised citizens, saying the individuals are accused of concealing criminal conduct or other disqualifying facts when they sought citizenship. Federal prosecutors said the actions target people accused of “serious offenses,” listing money laundering, child sexual abuse, visa fraud, tax evasion and alleging two defendants engaged in espionage on behalf of China. The DOJ framed the filings as the largest concentrated denaturalisation effort in modern history. According to the department, the petitions were submitted from late August through early October and cover citizens originally from a range of countries including Mexico, Pakistan, China and Sierra Leone. The agency said many of the criminal convictions at issue occurred after the defendants were naturalised, and that prosecutors contend some concealed prior conduct or facts that would have disqualified them for citizenship because they lacked “good moral character.” Denaturalisation laws have been used intermittently for decades, most notably after World War II against people accused of concealing ties to Nazi crimes, but their use waned after the Cold War. The Trump administration has pushed to broaden denaturalisation as part of a wider effort to increase removals and immigration enforcement, with senior officials describing expanded denaturalisation as a tool to protect national security. The effort has prompted criticism from human-rights advocates and some lawmakers, who warn expanded use of denaturalisation could render people stateless and has the potential to be applied selectively. Critics have pointed to prior suggestions from the administration about pursuing denaturalisation of groups such as Somali Americans accused in a Minnesota daycare fraud probe, and to public comments from some Republican figures and former President Donald Trump suggesting denaturalisation or removing citizenship from specific public figures. Separately, Trump has also sought limits on birthright citizenship; the Supreme Court rejected a broad challenge to birthright citizenship in June, though related legal disputes and executive actions remain active.