Trump admin targets nearly 400 citizens in unprecedented denaturalization push

Federal prosecutors are being mobilized nationwide to pursue citizenship revocation against nearly 400 naturalized Americans, the latest move of the Trump administration in its immigration agenda.

Civil litigators at 39 U.S. attorney offices are being assigned to handle denaturalization cases, according to The New York Times. This marks a significant structural shift from past practice, when such proceedings were handled almost exclusively by DOJ immigration experts in Washington. Fifteen people have had their citizenship revoked since President Donald Trump began his second term, out of 22 cases the government has filed in federal court.

The groundwork was laid nearly a year ago. A June 2025 internal memo instructed officials to “aggressively investigate” suspected fraud cases and established a monthly referral target of 100 to 200 cases through fiscal year 2026. Consistent with that framework, Francey Hakes, director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, reportedly confirmed recently that the 384 individuals represent only “the first wave of cases.” Hakes also acknowledged that many regional civil divisions are already stretched thin, overwhelmed by lawsuits from detained immigrants challenging the legality of their detention.

The scope of the effort comes into sharper focus against the historical record. The government averaged roughly 11 denaturalization cases per year between 1990 and 2017. Trump’s first term brought 168 cases in four years, while the Biden administration filed about 64. Against that backdrop, DOJ spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said the department is now pursuing “the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history.” The White House has cast the campaign as routine law enforcement, but the decision to use generalist prosecutors rather than specialists raises concerns about whether accuracy will keep pace with ambition, and whether inadvertent errors could be recast as intentional fraud.

Legal experts are skeptical the approach will survive judicial scrutiny. “This kind of mass denaturalization campaign will be based on a distortion of the law,” Lucas Guttentag, a former Biden DOJ official and Stanford Law professor, told the Times. Separately, former USCIS official Ricky Murray noted that the legal burden of proof in federal court remains unchanged regardless of referral volume. “I don’t see how there’s going to be significantly more cases brought for denaturalization by DOJ to the federal courts,” he told Newsweek last month.

As we have consistently highlighted about naturalization, Asian Americans are among those with the most at stake. Immigrants from India, the Philippines and Vietnam were among the top five origin countries for the 818,500 people naturalized in fiscal year 2025. Additionally, Asian immigrants naturalize at higher rates than any other group, with Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian Americans posting naturalization rates exceeding 80%. The concern sharpened in January when Trump named Somali Americans as potential targets and refused to identify which other groups were under consideration, alarming communities where long waits, complex paperwork and language barriers during the citizenship process may have left applicants vulnerable to fraud allegations stemming from unintentional errors.

With Hakes calling this only the “first wave,” observers expect the administration to pursue additional cases and a wave of court challenges to follow.