Featured Issue: Denaturalization
The Trump Administration has made denaturalization—a rarely used legal process—a top enforcement priority. Once reserved for extreme cases, it is now being expanded in ways that raise serious civil liberties concerns. Naturalized citizens face increasing threats to their status, often for minor infractions or political expression. This resource hub provides background, legal context, and advocacy tools to help defend against the misuse of denaturalization and protect the integrity of U.S. citizenship.
Browse the Featured Issue: Denaturalization collection
Policy Brief: Denaturalization and the Administration’s Targeting of U.S. Citizens
On June 11, 2025, DOJ issued a memorandum that included denaturalization as a top enforcement priority for its civil division. This policy brief analyzes the implications of that memorandum and recent statements by the President that point to the expansion and weaponization of denaturalization.
National Immigration Forum Fact Sheet: Denaturalization
National Immigration Forum provides a fact sheet on denaturalization, including the main reasons people can be denaturalized, limits on denaturalization, denaturalization of military service members and veterans, impacts on family members, concerns around broad denaturalization efforts, and more.
CA6 Holds That Denaturalized Petitioner Is Not Removable for Crime Committed While a U.S. Citizen
The court held that the petitioner could not be removed under INA §237(a)(2)(E)(i) based on his conviction for a crime of child abuse that occurred while he was a U.S. citizen, even though he was later denaturalized. (Gonzalez Castillo v. Bondi, 6/18/25)
USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12 – Citizenship and Naturalization, Part L – Revocation of Naturalization
The USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part L covers revocation of naturalization, including three chapters: (1) Purpose and Background, (2) Grounds for Revocation of Naturalization, and (3) Effects of Revocation of Naturalization.
DOJ Memorandum on Civil Division Enforcement Priorities
Assistant AG Shumate sent a memorandum to DOJ Civil Division employees on 6/11/25 setting Civil Division enforcement priorities, which include litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and denaturalization, among others. The memo outlines categories of priorities for denaturalization cases.
FindLaw: Can Your U.S. Citizenship Be Revoked?
FindLaw provides an article about denaturalization, including grounds for denaturalization, the denaturalization process, appeals and defenses, and more.
ILRC: Denaturalization and Revocation of Naturalization
ILRC provides a practice advisory that reviews the present state of denaturalization and revocation of citizenship, including the statutes and case law.
DOJ Announces Creation of a Section Dedicated to Denaturalization Cases
DOJ announced creation of the Denaturalization Section, dedicated to investigating and litigating naturalization revocations, within the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation. DOJ claims that increasing referrals anticipated from law enforcement agencies motivated the section’s creation.
ACLU: The Trump Administration’s Plan to Strip Citizenship from Thousands of Americans
ACLU provides an informational sheet about the Trump Administration launching a denaturalization operation in June 2018.
(Un)Civil Denaturalization
This article by Cassandra Burke Robertson and Irina D. Manta, published in the NYU Law Review, argues that stripping Americans of citizenship through the route of civil litigation violates substantive and procedural due process and infringes on the rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
Bipartisan Policy Center: Can the Government Revoke Immigrants’ Citizenship?
The Bipartisan Policy Center reports on government denaturalization efforts.
DOJ Files Denaturalization Lawsuit Against Chicago Man Convicted of Providing Material Support to Terrorists
DOJ announced that it filed a lawsuit to denaturalize U.S. citizen Khaleel Ahmed, who naturalized in 2004 and was convicted pursuant to a guilty plea in 2009 of providing material support to terrorists. Ahmed is accused of having misrepresented his criminal conduct during naturalization proceedings.
ICE Announces Federal Courts Denaturalized Five Somali Nationals
ICE announced that federal courts in North Texas and Minnesota denaturalized five Somali nationals, one convicted of engaging in sexual contact with a minor, and the other fraudulently secured a Diversity Immigrant Visa, which concluded a concurrent case against three additional individuals.
DOJ Files Complaint to Denaturalize Diversity Visa Recipient Who Obtained Naturalized Citizenship
DOJ filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan to revoke the naturalization U.S. citizenship of Humayun Kabir Rahman after he failed to disclose two prior orders of removal and became a U.S. citizen in 2004. The case was referred by USCIS and identified as a part of Operation Janus.
Justice Department Secures First Denaturalization As a Result of Operation Janus
As part of Operation Janus, DOJ announced that a judge revoked the naturalized U.S. citizenship and canceling a Certificate of Naturalization for Baljinder Singh. Singh’s immigration status reverted to lawful permanent resident, rendering him potentially subject to removal proceedings.
DOJ Seeks to Denaturalize Four Somalia-Born Individuals Admitted to the United States on Diversity Immigrant Visas
DOJ announced the filing of civil complaints against four individuals who allegedly obtained their naturalized U.S. citizenship by fraudulently representing to immigration officials that they were a family to gain admission to the United States through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.
DHS OIG Report: Individuals with Multiple Identities in Historical Fingerprint Enrollment Records Who Have Received Immigration Benefits
In response to a congressional request, DHS OIG analyzed a USCIS data set of foreign nationals whose fingerprints had been uploaded into IDENT through HFE I. USCIS identified 9,389 foreign nationals as having multiple identities and having received an immigration benefit.
United States Files Denaturalization Complaints Individuals Who Fraudulently Naturalized
The DOJ announced that it filed civil denaturalization complaints in federal court against three individuals who allegedly obtained naturalized U.S. citizenship by fraud by concealing prior orders of exclusion and deportation under different identities than the identity under which they naturalized.
United States Attorneys’ Bulletins (July 2017, Vol. 65, No. 3)
The July 2017 edition from the DOJ’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys includes articles related to civil immigration enforcement and the Office of Immigration Litigation-District Court Section.
Supreme Court Issues Ruling on Convictions for Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization Based on False Statements
The Supreme Court held that in a prosecution under 18 USC §1425(a) based on a false statement to government officials, a jury must decide whether the false statement so altered the naturalization process as to have influenced an award of citizenship. (Maslenjak v. United States, 6/22/17)
OIG Report: Potentially Ineligible Individuals Have Been Granted U.S. Citizenship Because of Incomplete Fingerprint Records
DHS’s Office of Inspector General released a report finding that USCIS granted U.S. citizenship to at least 858 individuals ordered deported or removed under another identity when, during the naturalization process, their digital fingerprint records were not available.