Attorney General announces record number of cases to strip US citizenship

Key Points:

• The US Department of Justice has filed 40 new cases to revoke citizenship from naturalised Americans accused of serious crimes such as money laundering, child sexual abuse, visa fraud, and tax evasion, marking the largest denaturalisation effort in modern history under President Trump.
• The targeted individuals, from countries including Mexico, Pakistan, China, and Sierra Leone, are accused of concealing criminal acts during their citizenship applications, with some convicted after naturalisation; two are also accused of espionage for China.
• Denaturalisation laws, historically reserved for serious offenses like war crimes, have been expanded under the Trump administration as part of a broader push for mass deportations, sparking criticism from human rights groups concerned about statelessness and political targeting.
• Critics argue that Trump has used denaturalisation efforts against perceived political rivals and minority communities, such as Somali Americans accused of fraud and public figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Elon Musk.
• While Trump has pushed to end birthright citizenship, which is constitutionally protected for nearly all US-born children, denaturalisation can only be applied to naturalised citizens who concealed disqualifying information during their application process.