XPost: alt.politics.immigration, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
XPost: misc.legal

For decades, the US Department of Justice has used a tool to sniff
out former Nazis who lied their way into becoming American
citizens: a law that allowed the department to denaturalize, or
strip, citizenship from criminals who falsified their records or
hid their illicit pasts.

That power, under the new Trump administration, may be broadening.

According to a memo issued by the Justice Department last month,
attorneys should aim their denaturalization work to target a much
broader swath of individuals � anyone who may �pose a potential
danger to national security.�

The directive appears to be a push towards a larger
denaturalization effort that fits with the Trump administration�s
hardline immigration policies. These could leave some of the
millions of naturalized American citizens at risk of losing their
status and being deported.

People who have committed violent crimes, are members or associates
of gangs and drug cartels or have committed fraud should also be
prioritized, the memo, issued by the head of the DOJ�s Civil
Division, said.

But for many officials and experts, the real concern, they say, is
that it is designed to strike fear in the hearts of legal
immigrants across the country � particularly those who are at odds
with Trump himself.

�The politicization of citizenship rights is something that really
worries me, I think it�s just flatly inconsistent with our
democratic system,� Cassandra Burke Robertson, a law professor at
Case Western Reserve University, told CNN.

Reshaping immigration
The statute in question is part of a McCarthy-era law first
established to root out Communists during the red scare.

But its most common use over the years has been against war
criminals.

In 1979, the Justice Department established a unit that used the
statute to deport hundreds of people who assisted the Nazis. Eli
Rosenbaum, the man who led it for years, helped the department
strip citizenship from or deport 100 people, and earned a
reputation as the DOJ�s most prolific Nazi hunter.

Rosenbaum briefly returned in 2022 to lead an effort to identify
and prosecute anyone who committed war crimes in Ukraine.

But the department has broadened those efforts beyond Nazis several
times, including an Obama-era initiative called Operation Janus
targeting those who stole identities to earn citizenship.

In 2020, Trump attempted to expand denaturalization efforts by
creating a dedicated office at the Justice Department, but it was
quietly disbanded by the Biden administration the following year.

One former DOJ official called the office a �branding opportunity,�
noting that it was not particularly effective and did not fit with
Trump�s successor�s priorities.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has worked to redesign
how the federal government enforces immigration in the country,
pushing agencies like the FBI and US Marshals to join deportation
efforts and targeting foreign student visas for people abroad
hoping to attend a private university in the states.

Instead of reinstating the stand-alone office from his first
administration, the entire Civil Division is now being told to
prioritize denaturalization �in all cases permitted by law,�
according to the memo, which also suggests that US attorneys�
offices across the country should flag cases where they may be able
to initiate denaturalization proceedings.

Trump filed 102 denaturalization cases during his first
administration, contrasted with the 24 cases filed under Biden, DOJ Spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said on social media Wednesday. So far,
the second Trump administration has filed 5 cases in its first five
months.

Political consequences?
The DOJ told CNN in a statement: �Denaturalization proceedings will
only be pursued as permitted by law and supported by evidence
against individuals who illegally procured or misrepresented facts
in the naturalization process.�

But current and former DOJ officials who spoke to CNN said that the
beyond instructing lawyers to file as many denaturalization cases
as possible, the memo is so broad that it could allow the Justice
Department to invoke vague or unsubstantiated claims to expel
people from the country.

Robertson, of Case Western, warned that the memo could give way to
the Trump administration retroactively searching for missteps in
the naturalization process of perceived political opponents, like
student activists.

Irina Manta, a law professor at Hofstra University, said that the administration�s move could have a �chilling effect� on free
speech, both political and otherwise.

�I regularly observe the fear firsthand,� she said.

Trump has publicly flirted with the notion of deporting American
citizens he doesn�t want in the country.

Though the seriousness of these statements is highly unclear, he
has called for everything from deporting �bad people � many of them
[who] were born in our country� to saying his administration should
�take a look� at removing Elon Musk after his erstwhile ally
criticized the president�s spending bill.

At least one ally has taken a more formal step.

Last week, Andy Ogles, a Republican congressman, asked Attorney
General Pam Bondi to investigate whether New York City mayoral
candidate Zohran Mamdani�who was born in Uganda and naturalized in
2018� should be subject to denaturalization proceedings because he
�publicly glorifies� people connected to Hamas in a rap song.

Bondi has not publicly responded to the letter.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/politics/justice-department-trump- denaturalization

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