The Trump administration has launched a broader effort to revoke the citizenship of certain naturalized Americans accused of fraud, terrorism-related activity, and other serious crimes.
The Justice Department said it filed denaturalization actions in federal courts against roughly a dozen foreign-born U.S. citizens whom officials allege unlawfully obtained American citizenship or concealed significant information during the immigration process.
The cases involve individuals originally from countries including Iraq, Somalia, Colombia, India, China, Morocco, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, and Gambia.
Federal officials described the initiative as part of a larger crackdown on immigration fraud and national security threats. Among those named are a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing a minor, a Somali-born man who admitted to providing material support to al-Shabaab, and a Moroccan-born man accused of having ties to al Qaeda.
The Justice Department also identified a former Gambian police officer accused of involvement in war crimes, along with individuals accused of using false identities or fraudulent marriages to secure immigration benefits.
In a separate action announced Friday, federal prosecutors said they are seeking to revoke the citizenship of former U.S. diplomat Manuel Rocha after he admitted to acting as a Cuban agent.
Denaturalization is a relatively uncommon legal process in which the government asks a federal court to cancel a person’s citizenship. To succeed, prosecutors must show that citizenship was obtained illegally or through intentional deception, such as withholding important information during the naturalization process.
People who lose citizenship generally return to their previous immigration status, often lawful permanent residency, which can leave them vulnerable to deportation proceedings.
The administration’s latest actions represent a substantial increase in the use of denaturalization. From 1990 through 2017, the federal government filed slightly more than 300 such cases nationwide.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier this week that the administration believes some individuals improperly obtained citizenship.
There are “a lot of individuals who are citizens who shouldn’t be,” Blanche said during an interview with CBS News.
He also defended the administration’s approach, saying, “We should disincentivize people from committing fraud when they’re going to become a citizen of this great country.”
Blanche said only “a very small percentage” of naturalized citizens should be concerned, adding that people who lawfully obtained citizenship do not “have anything to worry about.”
One of the newly announced cases involves Ali Yousif Ahmed, an Iraqi-born naturalized citizen accused of concealing allegations that he had been involved with al Qaeda and the killing of two Iraqi police officers. Another involves Salah Osman Ahmed, a Somali immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 2007 and later pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists.
Legal experts say denaturalization cases are difficult to win because the government must meet a high evidentiary standard to prove that the alleged fraud was intentional and material to the citizenship decision.
Immigrant advocacy groups have voiced concern that the administration’s increased focus on denaturalization could create fear among millions of naturalized citizens, particularly those worried about errors or omissions in old immigration paperwork.
