The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans by reassigning immigration lawyers to the Justice Department... According to a DOJ spokesperson, 35 denaturalization cases have been initiated during this second term, including 12 filed within the current month.

Replicating the first-term strategy of 15 dedicated lawyers

The Trump administration is currently repurposing personnel from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to bolster the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its pursuit of denaturalization. This move involves the temporary transfer of immigration attorneys from USCIS to various U.S. attorney’s offices to prioritize cases involving individuals accused of obtaining citizenship through fraud or other forms of ineligibility.

This tactical shift appears to be an escalation of a strategy previously utilized during the first Trump term. as the report indicates, the administration previously attempted to speed up these legal proceedings by establishing a specialized team consisting of 10 to 15 lawyers. By reassigning existing USCIS staff, the current administration is effecctively scaling up that specialized legal presence to handle an increasing caseload of citizenship revocations.

The 35 cases spanning 11 different nations

The DOJ has already moved forward with 35 denaturalization cases since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. A significant portion of this activity is concentrated in recent weeks, with 12 of those cases being filed just this month. These legal actions target naturalized citizens who the government alleges are ineligible for their status.

The demographic scope of these cases is broad, involving individduals identified as being from the following 11 nations:

  • Africa: The Gambia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria,and Somalia
  • Asia: China and India
  • Americas: Bolivia and Colombia
  • Middle East/Central Asia: Iraq and Uzbekistan

    • Allegations ranging from sham marriages to terrorism-related offenses

    The legal basis for these 35 cases involves a wide spectrum of alleged misconduct and criminal activity. The Trump administration is targeting individuals based on claims that their path to citizenship was built on deception or that they have since engaged in serious criminal behavior. According to the DOJ, these allegations include:

    • Fraudulent entry: Sham marriages and identity fraud.
    • Violent crime: Terrorism-related offenses and the concealment of war crimes.
    • Other criminal acts: Firearms trafficking, investor fraud, and the possession of indecent digital images of minors.

      • The impact of temporary USCIS attorney transfers on legal services

      While the administration has clarified the intent of these transfers, several critical details remain unverified. It is currently unknown how many total USCIS attorneys have been reassigned to the DOJ, or how long these assignments are expected to last. Furthermore, the administration has not specified how the temporary loss of these legal experts will affect the standard processing times for routine immigration services handled by USCIS.

      There is also the question of whether this surge in denaturalization will lead to a broader shift in how the DOJ handles all forms of immigration litigation. As the administration prioritizes these specific revocation cases, observers are left to wonder if the resources being diverted from USCIS will create significant backlogs for the millions of other applicants currently navigating the federal immigration system.