Justice Dept. Targets Hundreds of Citizens in New Push for Denaturalization The U.S. Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it aims to revoke, marking a significant escalation in denaturalization efforts. This initiative, part of a broader strategy to expedite the process, involves assigning denaturalization cases to prosecutors in 39 U.S. attorney’s offices nationwide. The move was announced during a meeting in Washington, where senior officials emphasized the need to prioritize these cases, though the specific criteria for targeting the 384 individuals remains unclear. Under federal law, the government can seek to strip citizenship from individuals who obtained it through fraud, such as entering sham marriages or withholding critical information about their past. Criminal activities may also lead to denaturalization, though the process requires presenting evidence to a federal judge through civil or criminal proceedings. Historically, denaturalization cases were handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation, but the new approach involves regular prosecutors, potentially accelerating the pace of denaturalizations, which have been rare in recent decades. This effort aligns with the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which includes increasing denaturalization referrals from the Department of Homeland Security. Officials claim to be pursuing the highest volume of such cases in history, with a focus on “criminal aliens” who allegedly defrauded the naturalization process. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated that citizenship fraud is a serious crime, and those who obtained citizenship through deceit will face accountability.#white_house #university_of_virginia #abigail_jackson #justice_dept #francey_hakes
