It used to be that immigrants who earned U.S. citizenship could only see it taken away if they hid their Nazi past, had ties to terrorists, or lied on their application – fewer than a dozen people per year.
That changed during President Donald Trump’s first administration when he led a campaign to denaturalize thousands of immigrant U.S. citizens – though it never met its goals. Last week, Trump rebooted the effort, ordering “adequate resources” be spent to denaturalize some U.S. citizens as part of his broader plan to restrict immigration.
Tucked among the priorities listed in his Day 1 executive orders was a one-line reference to enforcing a section of immigration law under which the government can revoke an immigrant’s U.S. citizenship if it was “unlawfully procured.”
