By Reuters
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) – The Trump administration intends to increase its efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their U.S. citizenship, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing internal guidance.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance, which was issued on Tuesday, asks its field offices to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” in the upcoming 2026 fiscal year, according to the newspaper.
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That would mark a dramatic increase in denaturalization cases, which, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, stood at about 11 per year between 1990 and 2017.
Under U.S. law, a person can be denaturalized for several reasons, including illegally gaining U.S. citizenship and misrepresenting a material fact during the naturalization process.
The timeline for denaturalization cases varies, but they can take years to resolve.
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A USCIS spokesperson said it was not a secret that the agency’s “war on fraud” prioritized people who unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship, particularly under the previous administration.
“We will pursue denaturalization proceedings for those individuals lying or misrepresenting themselves during the naturalization process,” the spokesperson said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has carried out an aggressive immigration agenda, including imposing travel bans and an attempt to end birthright citizenship, opens new tab, since January.
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His administration most recently paused immigration applications, including green card and U.S. citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries.
Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington Editing by Rod Nickel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Trump administration seeks sharp increase in denaturalization cases, NYT reports
Internal guidance calls for up to 200 cases per month, prompting concern among critics
Busra Nur Cakmak |18.12.2025 – Update : 18.12.2025
ANKARA
The Trump administration plans to significantly expand efforts to revoke the US citizenship of some naturalized Americans, according to internal guidance obtained by The New York Times, a move critics say could intensify fear among immigrant communities.
The guidance, issued Tuesday to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices, instructs officials to supply the Office of Immigration Litigation with between 100 and 200 denaturalization cases per month during the 2026 fiscal year, the newspaper reported.
Between 2017 and 2025, the Justice Department filed just over 120 denaturalization cases. Under the new targets, that number could be exceeded in a single month.
Federal law permits denaturalization only under limited circumstances, such as when citizenship was obtained through fraud or material misrepresentation. However, immigration advocates and former officials warn that numerical targets could lead to overly aggressive enforcement, potentially affecting people who made unintentional errors on paperwork, according to the Times.
“It’s no secret that USCIS’ war on fraud includes prioritizing those who’ve unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship,” agency spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told The New York Times, adding that the agency would work with the Justice Department to pursue cases supported by evidence.
Some former USCIS officials voiced concern over the scale of the proposed increase.
“Imposing arbitrary numerical targets on denaturalization cases risks politicizing citizenship revocation,” said Sarah Pierce, a former agency official. She warned that monthly quotas far exceeding recent annual totals could turn a “serious and rare tool into a blunt instrument.”
Supporters of stricter immigration enforcement argue the government is simply applying existing laws. Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the US is “nowhere close to denaturalizing too many people.”
About 26 million naturalized citizens live in the US, according to Census Bureau data cited by the Times. In most cases, individuals stripped of citizenship revert to legal permanent resident status.
Legal experts note that denaturalization cases must be proven in federal court, a high bar that has kept such actions relatively rare for decades. Still, critics warn that aggressive enforcement targets could create uncertainty among law-abiding citizens who believed their status was secure.
