A Cold War-era law once used to expel former Nazis is now at the centre of a sweeping Trump administration push to strip US citizenship from naturalised Americans, not just for fraud, but for being deemed a potential national security threat.
A new Justice Department memo instructs attorneys to pursue denaturalisation more aggressively, targeting not only those who committed fraud in their immigration process but also individuals who may “pose a potential danger to national security,” according to the directive, the CNN reported. The guidance, issued by the DOJ’s Civil Division, aligns with Trump’s broader effort to remake the federal immigration enforcement apparatus.
While the law behind denaturalisation has long existed, and was historically used to prosecute former Nazis and war criminals, legal experts as per CNN, warn that the administration’s new posture could be weaponised to intimidate naturalised citizens, especially those viewed as critical of Trump.
“The politicisation of citizenship rights is something that really worries me,” Cassandra Burke Robertson, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, told CNN. Robertson added, “I think it’s just flatly inconsistent with our democratic system.”
A tool with Cold War roots
The denaturalisation statute stems from a McCarthy-era law designed to root out Communists during the Red Scare. Since then, it’s most famously been used to prosecute Nazi collaborators. Beginning in 1979, the DOJ created a special unit to target those who concealed their roles in World War II atrocities.
Eli Rosenbaum, the department’s longtime Nazi hunter, stripped or revoked citizenship from over 100 individuals during his tenure. In 2022, he returned to lead US investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The Obama administration later expanded the practice under “Operation Janus,” targeting individuals who used stolen identities to become US citizens.
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In 2020, during Trump’s first term, the DOJ even created a dedicated denaturalisation office, though it was quietly dismantled by the Biden administration a year later. One former DOJ official told CNN the initiative was more of a “branding opportunity” than an effective enforcement mechanism.
But now, under Trump’s renewed leadership, the strategy is being revived with more institutional heft. Instead of a single office, the entire Civil Division has been instructed to prioritise denaturalisation “in all cases permitted by law,” while urging US attorneys’ offices to flag potential targets nationwide.
Political fallout
Trump’s DOJ filed 102 denaturalisation cases during his first administration, compared to 24 under President Biden, DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said on social media. Since Trump returned to office in January, five new cases have been filed in just five months.
The department maintains that all denaturalisation efforts will be legally grounded. “Denaturalisation proceedings will only be pursued as permitted by law and supported by evidence against individuals who illegally procured or misrepresented facts in the naturalisation process,” the DOJ said in a statement to CNN.
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But multiple current and former DOJ officials told CNN that the new memo is so broad that it risks giving the federal government leeway to file cases based on vague or politicised accusations — such as social media posts or political speech.
Robertson warned the administration could retroactively comb through applications for minor errors or inconsistencies, particularly among naturalised individuals critical of Trump.
Irina Manta, a law professor at Hofstra University, said the DOJ’s move could cast a “chilling effect” on speech. “I regularly observe the fear firsthand,” she told CNN.
Citizenship in the crosshairs?
Trump has, at times, publicly mused about removing even native-born citizens from the country. He has claimed that “many” of the “bad people” he wants to deport were born in the US, and recently said his administration should “take a look” at revoking Elon Musk’s citizenship after the billionaire criticised his spending plan.
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Now, one of Trump’s allies has made that threat more formal. Republican Rep. Andy Ogles recently urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who was naturalised in 2018 after immigrating from Uganda. Ogles claims Mamdani “glorifies” people associated with Hamas in a rap song and should be considered for denaturalisation.
Bondi has not publicly responded to the request.
