The United States government has launched a new effort to revoke the citizenship of millions of naturalised immigrants, according to a Justice Department memo obtained by The Guardian. The memo, dated June 11, directs federal attorneys to prioritise legal actions against naturalised citizens who committed crimes or lied during their citizenship application process.
The move could affect as many as 25 million people who became US citizens after being born abroad, based on 2023 immigration data. The memo lists ten categories of people targeted for denaturalisation, including those involved in war crimes, serious human rights abuses, gang activities, or other crimes that pose a threat to the US.
Unlike criminal trials, denaturalisation cases are handled as civil proceedings. This means the accused do not have the right to a lawyer, and the government only needs to meet a lower standard of proof to strip citizenship.
The Justice Department’s civil rights division is leading the efforts, which align with broader policy changes under the current administration. These include rolling back diversity and inclusion programs and ending certain transgender treatments.
Concerns are growing among immigration lawyers that the new approach could create a “second-class” status for naturalised citizens by removing their legal protections. Sameera Hafiz, policy director at the Immigration Legal Resource Center, told NPR that the policy undermines basic rights by denying legal representation and speeding up denaturalisation.
The memo follows recent high-profile cases, such as the June 13 court decision to revoke the citizenship of Elliott Duke, a UK-born US military veteran convicted of distributing child abuse material—an offense he failed to disclose during naturalisation.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department’s civil rights division has experienced major staff losses, with around 70% of its lawyers leaving between January and May 2025, raising concerns about its capacity to carry out its traditional mission against racial discrimination.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has also faced scrutiny after recording its 13th in-custody death since October 2024, highlighting ongoing challenges in the country’s immigration system.