Trump Vows To Revoke Citizenship Of Naturalized Immigrants Convicted Of Fraud

President Donald J. Trump announced Tuesday that his administration will move to revoke the citizenship of naturalized immigrants convicted of defrauding American citizens, signaling a renewed and expanded federal focus on denaturalization enforcement.

Speaking before the Detroit Economic Club, the president made his position clear.

“We’re also going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens,” Trump said.

The remarks come alongside a formal move by the U.S. Department of Justice to establish a dedicated section tasked with investigating and prosecuting denaturalization cases. The initiative builds upon enforcement mechanisms first strengthened during President Trump’s first term, including a 2018 denaturalization task force.

Legal Framework for Denaturalization

Under U.S. law, denaturalization is permitted when citizenship was unlawfully obtained through fraud or material misrepresentation during the naturalization process. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that citizenship cannot be revoked unless it was “illegally procured,” imposing a strict evidentiary threshold requiring “clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence.”

For decades, such cases were rare. Following a 1967 Supreme Court decision that limited denaturalization to instances of fraud or procedural error, the federal government typically filed only about a dozen cases per year.

That began to change in the late 2000s. In 2008, the Obama administration launched Operation Janus, a fingerprint digitization initiative that identified individuals who had previously been ordered deported under one identity but later obtained citizenship under another.

During President Trump’s first term, the Justice Department significantly expanded those efforts, reviewing more than 700,000 naturalization files and increasing federal court filings. In 2017, DOJ filed 25 denaturalization cases, followed by 20 more during the first half of 2018 — a sharp rise compared to prior decades.

By early 2018, DOJ officials projected pursuing roughly 1,600 denaturalization cases and announced plans to hire additional attorneys and immigration officers.

New Section, Broader Enforcement

The newly created DOJ section formalizes and potentially broadens that enforcement posture. A recent departmental memo directs the Civil Division to “advance the administration’s policy objectives,” explicitly including “prioritizing denaturalization.”

The memo outlines 10 categories of priority targets, including individuals who pose “a potential danger to national security,” those involved in “various forms of financial fraud,” and cases deemed “sufficiently important to pursue.”

The administration has placed particular emphasis on financial crimes such as Medicaid fraud, Medicare fraud, and loan fraud — offenses that can result in substantial losses to taxpayers.

Legal analysts note that historically, denaturalization has focused on whether applicants willfully concealed or misrepresented facts that would have influenced the approval of their citizenship. Debate remains over how broadly the new enforcement initiative may interpret fraud — particularly if post-naturalization criminal conduct, unrelated to the original immigration application, becomes subject to review.

Constitutional Safeguards Remain

Any effort to revoke citizenship must proceed through federal court, where judges will determine whether the government has met the high constitutional standard established by precedent.

The broader historical backdrop underscores the sensitivity of the issue. In the early 20th century, denaturalization was at times used against political dissidents under “good moral character” provisions. However, Supreme Court rulings in the 1940s and 1960s curtailed those practices and reinforced strict protections for naturalized citizens.

The current initiative operates within that modern constitutional framework, focusing on cases involving alleged fraud or illegal procurement of citizenship.

Trump has reinforced his support for aggressive enforcement in recent public statements. In a Truth Social post, he pledged to “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility.”

Supporters argue that the policy defends the integrity of the naturalization system and protects American taxpayers from fraud. Critics caution that courts will ultimately define the boundaries of enforcement.

The Justice Department’s new office is expected to begin reviewing cases immediately, with federal judges serving as the final arbiters in any attempt to strip citizenship.