Just days after the US Department of Justice ordered prosecutors to prioritise denaturalisation of citizens, President Donald Trump has said that it would be his “next job”. The Trump administration is prioritising the deportation of US citizens who have committed crimes or have illegally obtained citizenship. The department has even listed 10 categories to be treated as a priority.
“They’re not new to our country. They’re old to our country. Many of them were born in our country,” Trump told reporters during a tour of a migrant detention centre in Florida.
He added that if one gets to know the truth, they also want those individuals to be deported. “I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too, if you want to know the truth,” he further said, before adding, “So maybe that will be the next job.”
This is not the first time that Trump has floated the idea of revoking birthright citizenship. During his first tenure, he extended former President Barack Obama’s denaturalisation policies, and now he has intensified the crackdown on citizens who are complicit in crimes to detain and deport them.
For those unaware, anyone who is born in the United States is granted citizenship in accordance to a principle enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
What does the memo say?
The order, which came last month, says that the justice department will revoke the citizenship of certain people, including those who committed crimes, espionage or hidden material facts by wilful misrepresentation.
“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,” the memo read.
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.
According to a report by Axios, so far 305 people have been denaturalised by the department from 1990 to 2017. The outlet further reported that as many as 25 million US citizens will be impacted by the move.