Overview
- The Justice Department has sharply increased denaturalization filings, saying it filed more cases in the last 16 months than were filed across the prior four years.
- The expansion traces to a June 2025 directive that made denaturalization a formal priority and instructed agencies and state attorneys general to identify large numbers of targets.
- Operational changes include temporarily redeploying U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services lawyers into U.S. attorney offices and pressing for referrals that reporting says could number in the hundreds.
- So far many public cases involve serious crimes such as trafficking, terrorism links and sexual abuse, but scholars warn the government appears to favor convicted cases because they are easier to win.
- Denaturalization is a civil process that requires clear, convincing proof, offers no right to appointed counsel, has no statute of limitations and is overseen by federal judges, raising concerns about errors, unequal application and political weaponization as filings rise.