Overview

• Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate issued a June 11 memo instructing the Civil Division to prioritize denaturalizing naturalized citizens on security, criminal or fraud grounds.
• The newly formed denaturalization section has reviewed roughly 700,000 citizenship records and opened 168 active civil cases—more than under any modern administration.
• Civil denaturalization proceedings carry no right to appointed counsel and require only a clear and convincing evidence standard to strip citizenship.
• White House officials have publicly suggested high-profile targets such as Elon Musk and Zohran Mamdani despite no formal charges against them.
• Legal experts warn the expansion risks eroding due process and chilling speech among the 24.5 million naturalized Americans, especially California’s 5.6 million residents.