The Justice Department announced Monday that it’s seeking to strip away the citizenship of 17 people because they hid past offenses — including child sexual abuse, insurance fraud and stock manipulation — from immigration officials.
The effort is part of an unprecedented push by President Donald Trump’s administration to exercise the government’s denaturalization power after he won reelection in 2024 by campaigning on a pledge to carry out the mass deportation of up to 20 million people from the U.S.
It also follows last month’s transfer of lawyers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to the Justice Department to help expedite denaturalizations and deportations.
Justice Department officials have compiled a short list of 385 citizens targeted for denaturalization, The New York Times reported in April.
Between 1990 and 2017, an average of 11 denaturalization cases were brought each year, according to CBS News, which first reported on the Justice Department’s action on Monday.
And only 24 cases were brought during the four years of President Joe Biden’s administration, CNN said.
Last month, the department initiated denaturalization proceedings against 12 others, making this year’s total already greater than that of Biden’s entire term.
Among those charged Monday were a Catholic priest from Colombia who sexually groomed a minor parishioner, a woman from Cuba who took part in a $37 million health insurance scam and a man from Jamaica who conspired in a $54 million stock manipulation scheme.
The 17 defendants were all convicted after becoming citizens but allegedly committed their crimes during the five years before they applied for citizenship or after they applied but before they were naturalized, in violation of a law that requires would-be Americans to prove they’re of “good moral character.”
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Independent regarding whether those charged were in custody pending denaturalization proceedings.
But in a prepared statement, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “Gaining U.S. citizenship is a privilege and under the steadfast leadership of President Trump, this Department of Justice maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process.”
Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin also said his department “will not stand idly by while Americans are harmed by criminals, including sex offenders, perpetrators of fraud, and drug traffickers who have exploited our generosity and gamed our immigration system.”
