Overview

• A June Justice Department memo directs Civil Division attorneys to pursue denaturalization in all legally permitted cases, targeting individuals deemed potential national security threats alongside gang members, cartel associates and fraudsters.
• Since January, the administration has filed five denaturalization cases, adding to 102 initiated during Trump’s first term compared with 24 under President Biden.
• Representative Andy Ogles formally asked the DOJ to investigate stripping Zohran Mamdani’s citizenship for allegedly glorifying Hamas, and President Trump suggested reviewing Elon Musk’s status after public criticism.
• The Justice Department insists proceedings require evidence of illegal procurement or misrepresentation, but legal scholars warn the broad criteria create risks of politically motivated prosecutions.
• Originating from a McCarthy-era law used against Communists and later by a 1979 unit to denaturalize Nazi collaborators, the statute has expanded over decades to include identity-fraud cases under Obama’s Operation Janus.