DOJ moves to denaturalize 17 individuals for serious offenses

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said it initiated procedures in various federal court districts to denaturalize more than a dozen people for criminal activities. The individuals on Monday’s list engaged in offenses such as the sexual abuse of a minor, drug distribution, and both wire and bank fraud, the DOJ said. The individuals originally came from countries such as Cuba, Colombia, Haiti, China, and Yugoslavia.

How common is denaturalization? The National Immigration Forum reported last year that since the start of the first Trump administration, the number of denaturalization cases appearing in federal court each year has increased substantially compared to prior years. The DOJ has filed more denaturalization cases in the past month than the Biden administration did during its whole time in office, the department told WORLD. Filing 17 denaturalization cases in three days was largely unprecedented, and the DOJ had never published a list of this many denaturalization cases at once before, according to the statement. Last month, the DOJ moved to denaturalize 12 people in one fell swoop.

How does denaturalization work? The Immigration and Nationality Act permits the United States to revoke the citizenship of aliens who’ve obtained their naturalization illegally, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that a lie during the naturalization process could only cause individuals to lose their citizenship if the lie involved a material fact that would have prevented them from receiving their citizenship at all. The individuals the DOJ targeted with its denaturalization actions on Monday had all allegedly engaged in criminal activities before they became citizens and lied about it during the naturalization process.

Dig deeper: Read my explainer in Compassion about the Somali fraud issue plaguing Minnesota and whether the attention it received earlier this year was legitimate.