Concerns Mount as US Administration Weighs Broader Denaturalisation of Citizens

WASHINGTON, DEC 26: Immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers have raised alarm after reports revealed that the Trump administration is planning a major expansion of efforts to strip US citizenship from naturalised Americans, a move critics warn could undermine the foundations of American citizenship.

According to internal guidance circulated to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices and first reported by “The New York Times”, the administration has directed the agency to provide the Office of Immigration Litigation with “100 to 200 denaturalisation cases per month” during the 2026 fiscal year. If implemented, the plan would represent an unprecedented escalation of denaturalisation in the modern era.

Between 2017 and 2025, just over “120 denaturalisation cases” were filed in total, based on Justice Department figures cited by US media. Meeting the new targets could push that number to as many as “2,400 cases annually”.USCIS spokesperson Matthew J. Tragesser said the initiative would focus on cases involving fraud. “The goal is to prioritise the denaturalisation of people who have been found lying or misrepresenting themselves in the naturalisation process,” he told NPR.

In comments to “The New York Times”, Tragesser added that the administration would work with the Department of Justice to “restore integrity to America’s immigration system.” However, immigration law experts note that denaturalisation has historically been used sparingly and only in narrowly defined circumstances.

Elizabeth Taufa of the San Francisco-based Immigrant Legal Resource Centre said that while previous administrations had used digital tools to identify possible fraud, the introduction of numerical targets was deeply concerning.“Every single time this happens, it creates a chilling effect in the naturalised citizen and eligible-to-naturalise population,” Taufa told NPR. She warned that pursuing 100 to 200 cases a month would be a “Herculean undertaking” that could not be achieved “without cutting some corners.”

Strong backlash from Democrats

The proposal has triggered sharp criticism on Capitol Hill. US Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, the ranking member of the House Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, said she was “absolutely outraged” by the plan.“I am absolutely outraged by the Trump administration’s plan to denaturalise American citizens by the hundreds every single month and use the immigration system to terrorise immigrants across this country, including US citizens,” Jayapal said in a statement. She accused the administration of using “arbitrary numerical targets” to target immigrants based on political views or country of origin, warning that the policy would harm all Americans. “If he can do this to ‘them’, he can certainly do it to you,” she said.

A naturalised US citizen herself, Jayapal stressed that citizenship represents a sacred and binding commitment. “The idea that our own government would now seek to rip away this bond will harm all Americans, and indeed, the very idea of America,” she said. The guidance comes amid a broader immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, including tighter asylum restrictions at the southern border, a pause on certain asylum applications inside the US, and entry bans affecting travellers from several predominantly African and Middle Eastern countries.

Administration officials argue the measures are necessary to protect national security and preserve the integrity of the immigration system.Immigration advocates and legal experts, however, say the denaturalisation push is likely to face legal challenges, noting that US law allows citizenship to be revoked only in limited circumstances, primarily involving proven fraud. They warn the policy risks spreading fear among millions of law-abiding naturalised Americans who believed their citizenship was secure.

Lawmakers oppose ‘public charge’ proposal

In a related development, Democratic immigration leaders in the House and Senate also condemned the administration’s proposed “Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility” rule, warning that it unlawfully rewrites longstanding immigration law.

In a joint statement, lawmakers said the proposal would redefine “public charge” — a term that for more than **135 years** has applied only to individuals primarily dependent on government support. Under current law, a public charge determination can affect eligibility to enter the United States. They warned that the administration’s proposal would go much further by penalising immigrants for using supplemental benefits such as health care, nutrition, or housing assistance — programmes that Congress intentionally made available to support working immigrant families.

The Department of Homeland Security, they said, is attempting to bypass Congress by administratively altering the long-standing meaning of the term “public charge” in violation of congressional intent.“Congress has deliberately rejected the very changes that DHS now seeks to implement administratively, in complete defiance of our will and intent,” the lawmakers said.