DOJ Targets 384 for Denaturalization in Expanded Crackdown

The Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it intends to revoke, marking a significant expansion of denaturalization efforts as part of the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown.

Senior DOJ officials told colleagues during a meeting last week that civil litigators in 39 U.S. attorneys' offices would soon be assigned to file cases against the individuals, an unnamed source told The New York Times.

The newspaper reported on Thursday that two others familiar with the plans confirmed the initiative, but they did not immediately make it clear what led officials to target the 384 individuals.

Under federal law, the government may seek to strip citizenship from individuals who obtained it through fraud, such as by concealing disqualifying information.

Some criminal convictions can also lead to denaturalization. The process requires the government to present evidence in federal court, making such cases complex and time-consuming.

Traditionally, denaturalization cases have been handled by specialists within the Justice Department's Office of Immigration Litigation.

The decision to assign the work more broadly to civil divisions across the country could sharply increase the number of cases, which have historically been rare.

Matthew Tragesser, a Justice Department spokesman, said officials are "pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history" from the Department of Homeland Security.

"The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process," Tragesser said.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said, "Citizenship fraud is a serious crime; anyone who has broken the law and obtained citizenship through fraud and deceit will be held accountable."

The effort follows a directive issued months earlier instructing DHS officials to refer more than 200 potential denaturalization cases per month to the Justice Department.

Legal experts say the move signals a broader push to increase enforcement.

Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said the initiative could create uncertainty for naturalized citizens.

"The message it sends is that naturalized citizens don't have the same rights and stability as native-born citizens," Frost said, adding that denaturalization powers have historically been used in ways that raised concerns about targeting disfavored groups.

Denaturalization cases have been relatively uncommon in recent decades.

Between 1990 and 2017, the government filed 305 cases, averaging about 11 per year. From 2017 through late last year, officials sought to revoke citizenship from just over 120 individuals.

The DOJ's expanded approach may also strain resources. During last week's meeting, Francey Hakes, director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, described the 384 cases as "the first wave" and acknowledged that some offices are already understaffed and managing a surge in immigration-related litigation.

"I hope these cases will not be too much of an additional burden," Hakes told colleagues, while describing the push as a White House priority.

Jackson disputed that characterization, saying the effort is based on existing federal law rather than a new White House initiative.

Civil divisions in U.S. attorneys' offices typically focus on cases such as healthcare fraud, civil rights enforcement, and asset forfeiture. Expanding their role to include denaturalization could shift resources away from those priorities.

The Trump administration has already filed cases against a range of individuals, including a Ghana-born Marine convicted in a military court, an Argentine man accused of misrepresenting his nationality, and a Nigerian national convicted in a tax fraud scheme.

Some critics say the initiative echoes earlier periods in U.S. history when denaturalization was used more broadly. Lucas Guttentag, a former Justice Department official now at Stanford Law School, said the current approach risks undermining long-standing tenets.

"Genuine fraud when it actually occurs has always been aggressively pursued," Guttentag said. "This kind of mass denaturalization campaign will be based on a distortion of the law and is another transparent effort to destabilize long-established principles of U.S. citizenship."

Naturalized citizens undergo extensive vetting, including background checks, biometric screening, and civics and language testing. In 2024, more than 818,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens.