For far too long, the naturalization process has been treated as a one-way door. Citizenship was virtually untouchable once granted, even if it was obtained through outright lies, concealed criminal histories, or deliberate fraud. That era may finally be coming to an end.
This week, the Department of Justice announced denaturalization actions against 17 individuals who allegedly obtained their U.S. citizenship illegally. The cases include a Colombian woman who concealed her role in drug money laundering, a Somali national who used multiple false identities, and others who hid serious criminal records from immigration authorities. The DOJ described it as the largest denaturalization effort in American history, and this is a welcome sign that the rule of law is being taken seriously again.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citizenship can be revoked when it was procured through concealment of material facts or willful misrepresentation. This isn’t a new power, it’s an existing law that previous administrations simply refused to use with any consistency. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department averaged just 11 denaturalization complaints per year. Eleven. For a country processing hundreds of thousands of naturalization applications annually, that’s not real enforcement.
The current administration has changed that calculus. Since taking office, the DOJ has already filed at least 64 denaturalization cases, and has broadened the categories of individuals prioritized for review including those who concealed felonies, posed national security risks, or fraudulently gamed the system at any stage of the immigration process. This month’s action builds on a prior round of a dozen cases announced just weeks ago.
Critics will argue that denaturalization is an extreme measure, that it creates a “second-class” citizenship for the foreign-born. But that argument misses the point entirely. Nobody is proposing to strip citizenship from people who earned it honestly. The individuals targeted in these cases didn’t just make paperwork errors. They lied by concealing drug trafficking, sexual offenses against children, fabricated identities, and more. They used the generosity of the American people as a cover for criminal behavior, and then claimed the full rights and protections of citizenship as a shield.
The question now is whether 17 cases, or even 64, is anywhere near sufficient. By some estimates, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has identified thousands of cases potentially warranting review. With the tools, the legal authority, and apparently the will to act, there is no reason the pace of denaturalization proceedings should remain a trickle. The integrity of American citizenship depends on it.
Securing the border matters. Enforcing deportation orders matters. But so does ensuring that the naturalization process itself is not exploited as a backdoor around all of it.