Trump Admin Plans to Strip Citizenship From 250+ Foreign-Born Americans by October

So here's something that could matter a lot if you're a naturalized American citizen — or know someone who is.

The Trump administration has quietly set a major target: strip U.S. citizenship from more than 250 foreign-born Americans by October. That's according to a Justice Department official who spoke directly to CBS News. And to be clear, these are people who already went through the full naturalization process and became U.S. citizens — not undocumented immigrants.

The legal term for this is "denaturalization" — basically, the government taking back your citizenship. The Justice Department, which can revoke the citizenship of naturalized citizens accused of obtaining their citizenship illegally or through fraud, is planning to file at least 250 denaturalization cases in federal courts across the country in fiscal year 2026, which ends on September 30.

To understand why this is a big deal, you need a little context on how rare this normally is. Between 1990 and 2017, the U.S. government filed an average of just 11 denaturalization cases per year. So going after 250+ in a single year isn't a tweak — it's a sea change.

In less than two months this year, the Justice Department has already filed 29 denaturalization cases targeting foreign-born Americans whom it accuses of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship. The administration is building toward that October target fast.

Who exactly is being targeted? Among those targeted by the denaturalization crackdown are a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, a man born in Morocco with alleged ties to al Qaeda, a Somali immigrant who pleaded guilty to providing material support to al Shabaab, and a former Gambian police officer allegedly involved in war crimes. In other words, the early, publicly announced cases involve serious charges — terrorism links, violent crimes, fraud.

But here's where things get more complicated. The cases are intensive and time-consuming, and DOJ lawyers have traditionally focused on more clear-cut cases involving people found guilty of major crimes. But now, DOJ lawyers are feeling pressure to pursue any case that can be argued under the law, including alleged fraud based on how paperwork was filled out. That's a notable expansion of the net.

Federal law has long allowed the government to try to denaturalize foreign-born U.S. citizens who officials believe committed fraud to obtain their citizenship, such as by concealing information, like criminal conduct, on their immigration applications. So the legal authority isn't new. What's new is the scale and the pressure to find cases.

If the government wins one of these cases, the consequences are severe. If the government prevails, individuals lose all the benefits of American citizenship, return to their prior immigration status — typically as green card holders — and face deportation to their countries of birth.

Targeted individuals do have rights here. Those targeted in denaturalization cases can try to contest the allegations against them. But that means lawyers, court battles, and years of uncertainty.

The administration's stated rationale is straightforward. "The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process," a Justice Department spokesperson said, adding that the department is "pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history."

The scale of the ambition goes even further than 250. The goal was to supply between 100 and 200 potential cases per month to the Justice Department. If that pipeline ever hits full capacity, we're talking thousands of cases a year — a complete rewrite of how this country treats naturalized citizenship.

For now, while 250 cases would make up a small percentage of the 24 million estimated naturalized citizens in the U.S., it still marks a dramatic escalation in the use of denaturalization, a legal procedure that has rarely been used by past administrations.