Overview
- Internal guidance instructs USCIS field offices to supply the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100–200 potential denaturalization cases per month in 2026.
- USCIS has deployed fraud specialists and reassigned staff across dozens of field offices to review prior naturalization files for signs of fraud or material misrepresentation.
- Justice Department policy set in June 2025 directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization, focusing on national security risks, war crimes, government fraud, and other serious offenses.
- Denaturalization remains legally difficult and historically rare, with about 11 cases per year on average from 1990–2017; Trump’s first term saw 102 filings, and the second term has 16 filings with seven wins so far.
- Officials describe the effort as fraud enforcement within a wider immigration crackdown that includes visa revocations, attempts to deport some green-card holders, expanded enforcement deployments, and actions that civil-rights groups warn could chill speech.