Trump Admin Orders Justice Dept To Denaturalize New Citizens Convicted Of Crimes

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo directing United States’ attorneys to “prioritize” and “pursue” denaturalization proceedings for new citizens who may pose a threat to national security.

The memo, issued by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate to the Justice Department’s Civil Division on June 11, directs lawyers to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”

The DOJ’s denaturalization efforts will also target “individuals who pose a potential danger to national security, including those with a nexus to terrorism, espionage, or the unlawful export from the United States of sensitive goods, technology, or information raising national security concerns,” the memo explained. The move will also “prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport,” Shumate explained.

JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free

The memo went on to argue that denaturalization proceedings reaffirm the sanctity of citizenship and support “the overall integrity of the naturalization program by ensuring that those who unlawfully procured citizenship, including those who obtained it through fraud or concealment of material information, do not maintain the benefits of the unlawful procurement.”

The DOJ successfully denaturalized one man last month after he was convicted of collecting and distributing child sexual abuse material. The man, who identified with the “they/them” pronouns, joined the United States Army while still a citizen of the United Kingdom and gained American citizenship in 2012. The DOJ contended that he lied about his criminal history in order to fraudulently obtain American citizenship.

“If you commit serious crimes before you become a U.S. citizen and then lie about them during your naturalization process, the Justice Department will discover the truth and come after you,” Shumate asserted while commenting on the case.

The case is part of an ongoing, national effort between the DOJ and ICE to “identify and prosecute sex offenders who have fraudulently obtained United States citizenship.”