U.S. launches largest-ever effort to denaturalize citizens accused of fraud

The Trump medication connected Monday plans to denote it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of migration fraud, expanding its unprecedented denaturalization campaign, CBS News has exclusively learned. 

Justice Department officials said the determination represents the largest-ever effort by the U.S. authorities to usage its denaturalization powers, which were seldom invoked earlier President Trump returned to the White House past twelvemonth with promises to motorboat a historical deportation blitz. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed an mean of conscionable 11 ineligible complaints per twelvemonth seeking to denaturalize American citizens, historical figures indicate.

Federal instrumentality has agelong allowed the authorities to effort to denaturalize foreign-born U.S. citizens who officials judge committed fraud to get their citizenship, specified arsenic by concealing information, similar transgression conduct, connected their migration applications. But the process has been historically lengthy, analyzable and seldom exercised, requiring officials to transportation judges to portion naturalized citizens of their citizenship successful civilian oregon transgression proceedings successful national court. 

The Trump medication has sought to vastly escalate denaturalization efforts arsenic portion of its larger crackdown connected amerciable and ineligible immigration. In 2025, the Justice Department broadened the categories of naturalized citizens who should beryllium prioritized for denaturalization. Last month, officials announced a twelve denaturalization cases, astatine the clip the largest specified effort successful years.

Some of the 17 citizens targeted successful the latest denaturalization run were convicted of convulsive oregon superior crimes, including enactment offenses against children. Others were convicted of fraud crimes oregon accused of committing migration fraud. 

In national tribunal complaints filed crossed the state successful caller days, Justice Department officials argued that the individuals concealed their transgression enactment erstwhile they applied for U.S. citizenship oregon were different ineligible to beryllium naturalized, including due to the fact that they lacked a "good motivation character," 1 of the requirements successful the naturalization process.

Those targeted successful the latest circular of denaturalization cases see a Haitian migrant who allegedly sexually abused his daughter; a antheral from the erstwhile Yugoslavia convicted of sexually abusing a kid nether the property of 15; an migrant from Mexico convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors; a erstwhile Catholic clergyman calved successful Colombia accused of kid enactment abuse; and a Filipino-born antheral who pleaded blameworthy to a kid enactment crime.

The radical besides includes an Indian migrant accused of filing fraudulent H-1B visa petitions; the girl of a Colombian cause trafficker accused of wealth laundering; a antheral calved successful Jamaica convicted of ligament fraud; and a Cuban-born pistillate accused of defrauding a tribal casino. Other naturalized citizens were accused of utilizing mendacious identities.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would person "zero tolerance" for maltreatment of the naturalization process.

"Criminal aliens are lying astir their past crimes, including cause dealers, intersexual predators, and fraudsters," Blanche said. 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump medication would "continue to usage each lawful avenue to denaturalize and region aliens."   

"American citizenship is simply a privilege, and it indispensable beryllium earned honestly. If you travel here, interruption our laws, and prevarication successful your migration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege," Mullin said.

The denaturalization process allows the targeted citizens to situation the government's filings to effort to clasp their citizenship. If U.S. citizens are denaturalized, they instrumentality to their anterior migration status, typically arsenic imperishable U.S. residents, and suffer each the ineligible benefits of American citizenship, including extortion from deportation.