Trump DOJ working at 'warp speed' to strip hundreds of Americans of US citizenship. Are you at risk?

The Justice Department is actively pursuing at least 300 foreign-born American citizens as potential targets for denaturalisation, the legal process of stripping someone of their US citizenship, in what may be the highest volume of such cases in the country's history. Talking to NBC News, a Justice Department official confirmed that the number of people under review runs into the hundreds. A department spokesperson said the effort was moving "at warp speed," adding that the administration was "pursuing the highest volume of denaturalisation referrals in history" under the leadership of US President Donald Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

US 'laser focused on rooting out criminal aliens'

The DOJ official confirmed that federal prosecutors in field offices across America were working on the effort. "The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalisation process," said the unnamed official. "Under the leadership of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Department is pursuing the highest volume of denaturalisation referrals in history. We are moving at warp speed to ensure fraudsters are held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent."

Denaturalisation has historically been an exceptionally rare legal tool, reserved for cases where someone concealed a serious criminal history, like war crimes, human rights violations, or fraud during the naturalisation process. Across the entirety of Trump's first term, the administration filed a total of 102 such cases. The current push is on track to dwarf that figure within months.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services has deployed experts to field offices across the country and reassigned staff specifically to identify potential cases, to supply between 100 and 200 referrals per month to the Justice Department for prosecution. Federal prosecutors in field offices nationwide are working through the caseload.

Which naturalised citizens is the Trump admin targeting?

The Justice Department has outlined the types of cases it wants attorneys to prioritise, from individuals who pose national security risks or have been involved in war crimes or torture, to those accused of Medicaid and Medicare fraud or other forms of government fraud. It remains unclear which specific criteria apply to the roughly 300 people currently identified, or why they were singled out. The New York Times first reported the figure.

The denaturalisation drive sits within a much broader immigration enforcement push that has defined Trump's second term. This, over the past year, has included mass deportation operations, large-scale ICE deployments into American cities, and the construction of detention facilities.

How many naturalised citizens does the US have?

Roughly 800,000 people become naturalised US citizens each year, according to Homeland Security data.