The Trump administration says it wants to set a quota for denaturalization of up to 200 American citizens per month next year.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Trump administration says it wants to step up efforts to strip citizenship from some naturalized Americans. As NPR's Lilly Quiroz reports, it's part of the administration's effort to remove immigrants – in this case Americans – they say shouldn't be in the US.
LILLY QUIROZ, BYLINE: In a document recently circulated by the U.S. Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the administration says it wants to denaturalize 100 to 200 people per month in 2026. The document also states that USCIS must work with the Department of Justice to meet this quota. NPR has not seen the document, which was first obtained by The New York Times. USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told NPR that the goal is to prioritize the denaturalization of people who have been caught lying or misrepresenting themselves during the naturalization process. The Trump administration's desire to strip people of their citizenship is nothing new. Establishing a quota. Elizabeth Taufa works at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. Historically, denaturalization has been used in rare cases, she said.
ELIZABETH TAUFA: The traditional example was Nazis who lied about their Nazi Party membership and came to the United States and assumed a different identity. And later it turned out that they were war criminals, as a result of which they were deprived of citizenship.
QUIROS: The Justice Department issued similar recommendations in June, saying it would prioritize denaturalization to achieve the administration's goal of rooting out people who became citizens illegally. President Trump's administration is not the first to prosecute people accused of illegal naturalization. Taufa says new digital tools have been launched under President Barack Obama to identify potential cases of naturalization fraud.
TAUFA: Every time this happens, it creates a terrible chilling effect among naturalized citizens and the naturalization-eligible population, which makes people afraid. And, you know, this, unfortunately, is the biggest impact.
KIROS: During the first Trump administration, about 170 denaturalization cases went to trial. That's according to an analysis conducted by researchers at the National Immigration Forum at Hofstra University. Taufa says it will be a challenge for the administration to meet the quota of 100-200 people per month.
TAUFA: I mean, not without cutting some corners. And I think we've seen that this administration is very willing to set aside legal precedents.
QUIROS: Immigration law experts and advocates say these efforts are likely to be challenged in court.
Lilly Quiroz, NPR News.
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