The US Department of Justice’s Civil Division, in its memo dated June 11, has ordered prosecutors to prioritise denaturalisation of citizens who are engaged in war crimes, extrajudicial killings, illegally procured citizenship, misrepresented material facts in their citizenship applications, and more. The memo also lists 10 categories for denaturalisation to guide the department on which cases to treat as a priority.
Who will be impacted?
Trump, during his first term, expanded former President Barack Obama’s denaturalisation policies. Now, he has prioritised it in his second term. The memo comes at a time when the Trump administration has intensified its immigration crackdown to deport and detain legal permanent residents and citizens.
“The Department of Justice may institute civil proceedings to revoke a person’s United States citizenship if an individual either ‘illegally procured’ naturalisation or procured naturalisation by ‘concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation’,” the memo stated, before adding that those who “unlawfully procured citizenship do not get the benefits”.
It further stated, “The citizenship of individuals [will be revoked if they] engage in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses; to remove naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to US soil or traveling internationally on a US passport.
Nexus to terrorism, espionage and more
It also listed certain categories to prioritise the denaturalisation process. These include nexus to terrorism, espionage, unlawful export of goods from the US, people who engaged in war crimes, torture and human rights violations.
The US administration will also strip citizenship from those individuals who committed felonies, human trafficking, sex offences, violent crimes, fraud against private individuals, funds, corporations and more.
Those who are a part of the criminal gang or are associated with criminal organisations will also lose their citizenship. Those who engaged in various forms of financial fraud, including Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud and Medicaid/Medicare fraud, will also not be spared.
The memo also said that those subjected to civil proceedings are not entitled to an attorney, as they are in criminal cases. And the government has a lighter burden of proof in civil cases than they do in criminal ones.
The move will impact the estimated 25 million US citizens who immigrated to the country after being born abroad, The Guardian reported, citing data from 2023. According to Axios, the DOJ denaturalised 305 people from 1990 to 2017, about 11 per year.
Who is a naturalised citizen?
According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a naturalised citizen is one who has been granted US citizenship. “Naturalisation is the process by which US citizenship is granted to a lawful permanent resident after meeting the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA),” the USCIS stated.
The eligibility criteria to become a naturalised citizen include being a lawful permanent resident for at least five years, with exceptions for spouses of citizens and members of the US military. Another aspect is that the individual must understand, speak and write English and have a knowledge of the US administration and its history.
Earlier, the US Supreme Court made a partial ruling on Trump’s executive order (EO) on birthright citizenship that the judges of federal district courts cannot issue injunctions to block a government policy.