The Justice Department is pursuing an aggressive effort to strip U.S. citizenship from individuals accused of obtaining it through fraud, marking what officials describe as a historic escalation under the Trump administration’s acting attorney general, Todd Blanche.
The push is part of a broader strategy to expand denaturalization enforcement dramatically by shifting cases away from specialized immigration litigators and into the 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices nationwide. Officials are aiming to increase both the volume and speed of cases, targeting individuals accused of concealing criminal histories, entering sham marriages, or otherwise misrepresenting key facts during the naturalization process.
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“The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process,” Matthew Tragesser, a DOJ deputy director for communications, told the Washington Examiner. He added that under Blanche’s leadership, the department is pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history through closer coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The DOJ’s statement on Thursday follows a report by the New York Times that said the department had identified 384 naturalized citizens as part of an initial wave of cases it is preparing to pursue, with prosecutors across dozens of U.S. attorneys’ offices expected to take on the workload.
Tragesser said the department is moving at “warp speed” to hold fraudsters accountable and noted that the referrals filed in a single year have already exceeded the total from the entire four years of the Biden administration, with more cases expected.
Under federal law, the government may seek to revoke citizenship if it can prove the citizenship was obtained illegally or through willful misrepresentation. The process requires federal prosecutors to present clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence in court.
Meanwhile, Blanche has overseen the recent rollout of the National Fraud Enforcement Division — a brand-new component of the DOJ that will assign one prosecutor in each district to staff individual fraud divisions within U.S. attorneys’ offices across the nation. That effort is expected to be underway beginning July 1, according to a memo obtained by CBS on Wednesday.
The renewed push builds on enforcement actions the Washington Examiner has previously reported during former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s tenure prior to her ouster earlier this month. In recent weeks, federal courts have already revoked citizenship in multiple cases tied to fraud and criminal conduct.
On March 23, a federal judge stripped citizenship from a Ukrainian national convicted of smuggling firearm components and defrauding housing programs after prosecutors said he failed to disclose his criminal activity during the naturalization process. A day later, another judge revoked citizenship from a Cuban national involved in a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud scheme, citing her failure to meet the “good moral character” requirement.
The DOJ has also filed a separate civil complaint against a Lebanese national accused of securing citizenship through a sham marriage, alleging he misrepresented his living arrangements and later admitted to related passport fraud.
Nearly 1 million immigrants become U.S. citizens each year, according to USCIS data. In 2024 alone, more than 818,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens.
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The process for qualifying for citizenship can be rigorous and multifaceted. Some immigrants become eligible after holding green cards for at least five years, while others qualify through marriage to U.S. citizens after three years. Applicants are required to answer a wide scope of questions about their criminal history, possible ties to communist regimes, and past travels abroad, with finalization usually involving an English and civics exam.
The Trump administration’s reported targeting of at least 384 individuals for denaturalization would mark a sharp increase from past average levels, as federal data shows the government has sought to strip only 120 naturalized citizens between 2017 and last year, and only 305 total denaturalizations between 1990 and 2017.
