The Trump administration on Monday plans to announce it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud.
Justice Department officials said the move represents the largest-ever effort by the U.S. government to use its denaturalization powers and that those powers were rarely invoked before President Trump returned to the White House last year.
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, the article said.
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, and last month officials announced a dozen denaturalization cases.
Some of the 17 citizens targeted were convicted of violent or serious crimes, including sex offenses against children, while others were convicted of fraud crimes or accused of committing immigration fraud. Those named include a Haitian immigrant who allegedly sexually abused his daughter; a man from the former Yugoslavia convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 15; and an immigrant from Mexico convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors.
The group also includes a former Catholic priest born in Colombia accused of child sex abuse; a Filipino-born man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime; an Indian immigrant accused of filing fraudulent H-1B visa petitions; the daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker accused of money laundering; a man born in Jamaica convicted of wire fraud; and a Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding a tribal casino. Other naturalized citizens were accused of using false identities.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would have "zero tolerance" for abuse of the naturalization process and that, "Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters."
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump administration would "continue to use every lawful avenue to denaturalize and remove aliens" and added, "American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly. If you come here, break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege."
The denaturalization process allows the targeted citizens to challenge the government's filings to try to retain their citizenship; if U.S. citizens are denaturalized, they return to their prior immigration status, typically as permanent U.S. residents, and lose all the legal benefits of American citizenship, including protection from deportation.