Summary: According to reporting from CBS, citing the Justice Department, the Trump administration intends to announce that it will seek to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud. The Justice Department characterizes the move as the largest-ever use of federal denaturalization authority.
The government may pursue denaturalization under federal law when officials conclude that a foreign-born naturalized citizen secured U.S. citizenship through fraud, for example by hiding criminal conduct or other material information on immigration applications. Between 1990 and 2017 the Justice Department filed an average of just 11 legal complaints per year seeking to denaturalize citizens, underscoring how rarely the tool has been used historically.
The legal route to strip naturalized citizenship is typically complex and time-consuming. Prosecutors must persuade federal judges—through civil or criminal proceedings in U.S. district courts—to remove the citizenship status of individuals who were naturalized. That procedural difficulty has contributed to the infrequent use of denaturalization in past decades.
The current administration has pushed to expand denaturalization as part of a broader crackdown on both illegal and legal immigration. In 2025 the Justice Department revised its guidance to broaden the categories of naturalized citizens that should be prioritized for denaturalization. Last month officials disclosed a set of 12 denaturalization cases, which at the time was the largest wave in recent years.
This latest campaign targets 17 individuals. Some of those named are reported to have prior convictions for violent or serious offenses, including sex crimes against children. Others were convicted of fraud-related offenses or are accused specifically of committing immigration fraud tied to their naturalization.
Context and process: The move highlights a steep increase from historic averages in denaturalization filings. Given the requirement that judges be convinced in federal court proceedings, outcomes remain uncertain and the process is expected to involve protracted litigation in many cases.
What is unclear from the reporting: The reporting identifies the number of individuals targeted and the broad categories of alleged conduct but does not provide details on individual cases beyond noting convictions for violent, serious or fraud crimes for some of the people named. It also does not specify the timeline for filings or when courts might rule on these matters.
Bottom line: Officials characterize the planned action as an unprecedented expansion of denaturalization efforts, following policy broadenings in 2025 and a recent set of cases announced last month. The effort underscores a deliberate shift toward increased use of denaturalization in immigration enforcement.