WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to step up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their U.S. citizenship, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing internal guidance.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance issued Tuesday calls for its field offices to “provide 100-200 denaturalization cases per month to the Office of Immigration Prosecutions” in the upcoming fiscal year 2026, the newspaper reported.
That would mark a sharp increase in denaturalization cases, which numbered about 11 per year between 1990 and 2017, according to the Immigration Legal Resource Center.
Under U.S. law, a person can be denaturalized for a variety of reasons, including illegally obtaining U.S. citizenship and misrepresenting material facts during the naturalization process.
Timelines for denaturalization cases vary, but can take years to resolve.
A spokesman for USCIS said it’s no secret that the agency’s “war on fraud” prioritizes people who obtained U.S. citizenship illegally, especially under the previous administration.
“We will initiate denaturalization proceedings against those who lie or misrepresent facts during the naturalization process,” the spokesman said.
Since January, U.S. President Donald Trump has implemented an aggressive immigration agenda, including imposing travel bans and seeking to end birthright citizenship.
His administration recently suspended the processing of immigration applications, including green cards and U.S. citizenship, submitted by immigrants from 19 non-European countries.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Rod Nickel)
