Denaturalization

Created with AI MS Image Deigner October 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM

On December 17, 2025, the NYTimes published: Trump Administration Aims to Strip More Foreign-Born Americans of Citizenship.   I used ChatGPT to rephrase the information at CEFR B1-level for ESL/Citizenship students and teachers.  Please read the entire article.  Consult immigration legal services as needed.

Trump Administration Denaturalization Plan (source  New York Times / Reuters)

• The U.S. government plans to increase denaturalization cases a lot in the next year. USCIS has told its offices to send 100–200 cases per month to the Justice Department for review. This is a much larger number than in the past. 
  

• In previous decades, the U.S. government brought only about 11 denaturalization cases per year. The new guidance would raise this sharply. 

• Denaturalization means the government goes to federal court to try to take away someone’s U.S. citizenship. It can happen only if the person became a citizen through fraud, misrepresentation, or unlawfully during the naturalization process. 

• The reported guidance comes from internal USCIS documents seen by New York Times . It directs USCIS field offices to identify and refer cases to the Office of Immigration Litigation.

• Under U.S. law, a naturalized citizen can be denaturalized for specific reasons. For example:

  • If they lied or made false statements to get citizenship.

  • If they hid important facts (like prior crimes) during the naturalization process. 

• The process can take years because it involves civil litigation in federal court. It is not the same as a criminal trial, but requires legal steps and evidence. 
  

• USCIS says the focus will remain on cases where citizenship was unlawfully obtained. 

• This change is part of a broader immigration enforcement agenda by the administration, which also includes expanded travel bans and other immigration restrictions.

• Immigration law experts and advocates have noted that denaturalization has traditionally been rare and used for serious fraud or security cases. A shift to many more cases represents a significant policy change. 

• In interviews, some former agency officials expressed concern at the scale of the case goals for denaturalization pushed by U.S.C.I.S. leadership.

• “Imposing arbitrary numerical targets on denaturalization cases risks politicizing citizenship revocation,” said Sarah Pierce, a former U.S.C.I.S. official. “And requiring monthly quotas that are 10 times higher than the total annual number of denaturalizations in recent years turns a serious and rare tool into a blunt instrument and fuels unnecessary fear and uncertainty for the millions of naturalized Americans.”
•  “The Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that citizenship and naturalization are too precious and fundamental to our democracy for the government to take it away on their whim. Instead of wasting resources digging through Americans’ files, U.S.C.I.S. should do its job of processing applications, as Congress mandated,” said Amanda Baran, a former senior U.S.C.I.S. official in the Biden administration. 

(This is extra information)

How Denaturalization Works in the U.S. 

(sources USCIS.gov Policy Manual; National Immigration Forum factsheet) )

• Denaturalization means the government takes away someone’s U.S. citizenship.

• Only naturalized citizens (people who became citizens after birth) can lose citizenship this way.

• Citizenship can be taken away if it was gained through lies, fraud, or hiding important facts during the naturalization process.

• The process begins with USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) identifying a case.

• USCIS sends the case to the Justice Department, which may go to federal court to ask a judge to cancel the citizenship.

• The person can defend themselves in court and must have a lawyer if possible.

• Denaturalization is rare and usually takes many months or years.

• If citizenship is canceled, the person becomes a noncitizen and may face deportation.

In conclusion, the Trump administration plans to increase the number of cases where the U.S. government tries to take away citizenship from naturalized Americans. This is a big change because denaturalization has usually been very rare, used only when someone lied or hid important facts to become a citizen. The process is long and happens in federal court, and the person can defend themselves with a lawyer. These changes show a stronger focus on immigration enforcement and may affect many naturalized citizens in the future. It is important for people to understand how denaturalization works and their rights under U.S. law.