As part of its plans to make attaining a formal connection with the US even more difficult for certain foreign nationals, the Donald Trump administration is reportedly enhancing its aggressive strategy to snatch citizenship away from some naturalized Americans. According to an internal guidance obtained by The New York Times, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices were asked to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” in FY 2026.
The guidance issued on Tuesday was included in a document that emphasised what all the USCIS would be prioritising in FY 2026, which began in October 2025. They are not the first to list “pursue denaturalizing” high up in their order, as even the Department of Justice (DOJ) had previously vowed to make denaturalization their top priority this year, as per NYT.
According to the report, a memo pushed out in the summer foregrounded that DOJ officials would target people for even beyond concernns like committing fraud while obtaining citizenship. “The civil division shall prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence,” the agency said in June.
Trump administration pushing for denaturalization of foreign-born immigrants – Report
National Immigration Forum’s fact sheet on denaturalization describes it as the revocation of US citizenship of a naturalized immigrant by the US government. “By law, denaturalization can only occur by judicial order either through civil proceedings or a criminal conviction for naturalization fraud,” the forum states.
The USCIS forwards such cases for civil and criminal denaturalization to the Department of Justice so that they can be reviewed in case of availability of “sufficient evidence” that a person is subject to one of the grounds of denaturalization.
However, as things have been progressing with Donald Trump at the helm of enhanced immigration crackdown, officials have not only been targeting illegal migrants, but also those in the US on legal grounds. Making swift policy changes every now and then, the Republican leader has made it a point to uphold the ‘America First’ agenda.
The New York Times report citing the internal guidance issued on Tuesday further established that the Trump admin’s moves in this direction have prompted activists to issue warnings to people that even honest mistakes made in their citizenship documentation could ultimately shape into loopholes working against them.
USCIS officials speak out
“It’s no secret that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ war on fraud includes prioritizing those who’ve unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship — especially under the previous administration,” said Matthew J. Tragesser, a USCIS spokesman, as per NYT. “We will pursue denaturalization proceedings for those individuals lying or misrepresenting themselves during the naturalization process. We look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Justice to restore integrity to America’s immigration system.”
Former USCIS official Sarah Pierce also noted imposing such “arbitrary numerical targets on denaturalization cases risks politicizing citizenship revocation.” She added, “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.”
According to the Census Bureau, there are about 26 million naturalized Americans in the country. Over 800,000 new citizens were sworn in last year. They mostly came from countries like Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic or Vietnam, as per USCIS stats.
The latest reported development on this front comes just over a week after instances of certain immigrants being “plucked out” of queues at US citizenship ceremonies made headlines.
According to WGBH, the incident saw migrants being escorted out of line at a Boston oath ceremony, where they were just one step away from pledging their allegiance to the US. It was noted that people in line were asked about their origins at the naturalisation ceremony. Ultimately, individuals from certain countries were told to leave.
It all falls in line with the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to block asylum applications in the US, as was announced after an Afghan national was identified as the suspected gunman responsible for injuring National Guard members near the White House. On top of that, Trump has since expanded his travel ban order to target 20 more countries in addition to the 19 (mostly African and Middle Eastern nations) he had listed in a June proclamation.