Some naturalized Americans likely to lose US citizenship: Report

The Trump administration intends to increase its efforts to strip some naturalised Americans of their US citizenship, according to internal guidance obtained by The New York Times. The move comes as US President Donald Trump, in a prime-time address, pledged to further intensify his hard-line immigration policies, signalling a broader crackdown on migrants and stricter enforcement measures across the country.

Internal instructions issued this week to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices direct them to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100–200 denaturalisation cases per month” in the 2026 fiscal year, the Times reported. That would mark a dramatic increase in denaturalisation cases, which, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Centre, stood at about 11 per year between 1990 and 2017.A USCIS spokesperson said that the agency’s focus was on individuals who “unlawfully obtained US citizenship”, asserting that the expanded denaturalisation push forms part of efforts to combat immigration fraud.

In the US, the government can revoke the US citizenship of a naturalised citizen for various criminal and security issues. Denaturalisation cases are civil actions filed in federal court and historically have been pursued sparingly. Under US law, denaturalisation can occur only in specific circumstances — principally when citizenship was “illegally procured” or gained by fraud or misrepresentation during the naturalisation process. The timeline for denaturalisation cases varies, but they can take years to resolve.

The expanded denaturalisation guidance arrives amid a broader suite of immigration policies implemented by the Trump administration. These include expanded travel bans affecting citizens of multiple countries, a halt or severe curtailment of asylum processing, and a review of green cards and immigration status for nationals from countries the administration designates as “countries of concern”. Trump’s supporters, however, argue that safeguarding the integrity of the naturalisation system is essential and that fraud should be pursued vigorously within the bounds of law.