The Department of Justice filed civil complaints to strip citizenship from 25 naturalized individuals across multiple states, the largest coordinated denaturalization effort in the department’s history, officials told Fox News Digital on Monday. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate framed the filings as a down payment, not a final act.
The complaints, filed between July 20 and August 3, allege that each of the 25 subjects obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud, concealment, or other unlawful conduct. The charges span a grim catalog: attempted murder, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, marriage fraud, identity fraud, passport fraud, bank and credit card fraud, and practicing medicine without a license.
The subjects hail from 17 countries, Pakistan, Moldova, India, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Jamaica, Taiwan, Honduras, Cameroon, Jordan, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, and Sweden. None were identified by name in the DOJ’s announcement.
These 25 cases bring the DOJ’s total denaturalization filings since January 20, 2025, to 88. That number alone signals a pace of enforcement with no modern precedent. In June, the department moved against 17 individuals from 13 countries over allegations of child sexual abuse, narcotics trafficking, and large-scale financial fraud. Monday’s filing surge nearly doubled that batch.
The acceleration reflects a deliberate institutional shift. Earlier this year, the Trump administration reassigned USCIS attorneys to the Justice Department specifically to build capacity for denaturalization litigation, a bureaucratic move that is now producing visible results.
Blanche made clear the DOJ views citizenship fraud as a first-order enforcement priority, not a niche legal sideshow.
“U.S. citizenship is one of our nation’s highest privileges, and it must be obtained lawfully and honestly. The complaints announced today allege that these individuals secured naturalization through fraud, concealment, or other unlawful conduct, including by concealing violent crimes, sexual offenses against children, fraudulent identities, and other disqualifying facts.”
He added a line that will draw attention from both supporters and critics of the administration’s immigration posture.
“Today’s filings represent the largest coordinated denaturalization effort in Department history, but they are only the beginning. The Justice Department will continue to use every tool available to protect the integrity of the naturalization process and the safety of the American people.”
The DOJ highlighted two specific matters to show the range of alleged misconduct.
In North Carolina, prosecutors are seeking to denaturalize a man convicted of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. The complaint alleges he obtained citizenship through military service but failed to meet the required period of honorable service, a threshold that, if true, would mean his naturalization rested on a false foundation from the start.
In South Carolina, a naturalized citizen allegedly concealed a violent assault in which he beat and choked his wife. The attack left her hospitalized. He later pleaded guilty to assault and battery. Prosecutors say that criminal history should have disqualified him from citizenship.
These are not paperwork errors. They are allegations of serious, sometimes violent, criminal conduct hidden from the federal government during the naturalization process.
Denaturalization is a civil action, not a criminal prosecution. The government files a complaint in federal court asking a judge to revoke an individual’s certificate of naturalization. If the court agrees, the person loses U.S. citizenship and reverts to the immigration status they held before, which, depending on the case, could mean lawful permanent residency, an expired visa, or no status at all. Removal proceedings can follow.
The legal bar is high. Courts have historically required the government to prove its case by clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence, a standard stricter than the preponderance standard used in most civil litigation. That the DOJ is filing at this volume suggests prosecutors believe the underlying evidence is strong enough to survive judicial scrutiny in case after case.
The broader legal environment has shifted in the administration’s favor on immigration enforcement. The Supreme Court recently delivered major wins for the administration on asylum and deportation policy, reinforcing executive authority in areas where lower courts had imposed constraints.
Brett Shumate, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Division, matched Blanche’s tone. He described Monday’s announcement as a historic marker.
“Today marks the largest denaturalization surge in recorded history. Every one of these individuals committed crimes incompatible with U.S. citizenship. We are moving at record speed to denaturalize those who sought to deceive the federal government and abuse the naturalization process.”
The phrase “record speed” is notable. Denaturalization cases have historically been rare and slow, often taking years to investigate and litigate. Eighty-eight filings in roughly six months represents a sharp departure from past practice under administrations of both parties.
The DOJ initially announced 24 new cases on Monday, then added a 25th shortly after, raising the total without explanation for the late addition.
The denaturalization push fits within a broader pattern of high-volume enforcement actions by the current administration. In a separate action, the administration pulled 28,000 trucker licenses from non-citizens and moved to replace those drivers with veterans, a logistically complex operation that signaled the same willingness to act at scale.
Resistance to these enforcement efforts has sometimes turned violent. A Los Angeles anti-ICE rioter was recently sentenced to three years in federal prison for attacking California Highway Patrol officers during protests against immigration enforcement operations. That case underscored the intensity of opposition, and the federal government’s willingness to prosecute it.
Several details remain unclear. The DOJ did not name any of the 25 individuals in its public announcement. The specific federal courts where the complaints were filed were not disclosed. Nor did the department say whether any of the subjects are currently outside the United States or whether any have prior deportation orders.
The current status of the 17 denaturalization cases filed in June is also unknown, whether any have been resolved, dismissed, or are proceeding toward trial. And the DOJ has not specified which statutes or legal authorities it is invoking in these complaints, beyond the general framework of civil denaturalization.
For the 25 individuals named in this latest round, the legal process is just beginning. Each will have the opportunity to contest the government’s allegations in federal court. But the DOJ’s posture, filing in bulk, announcing publicly, and promising more, suggests this is a sustained campaign, not a one-time gesture.
Critics of aggressive denaturalization worry about government overreach and the chilling effect on naturalized citizens. Those concerns deserve a hearing in court, where each case will be judged on its own facts.
But the allegations in these complaints, attempted murder, child sexual abuse, identity fraud, are not close calls. If the DOJ’s factual claims hold up, these are people who lied their way into citizenship while hiding conduct that would have disqualified them. The naturalization process depends on honesty. When that honesty is absent, the process is hollow.
Eighty-eight filings in six months. Twenty-five in a single surge. The DOJ says it is only getting started. For anyone who obtained American citizenship by telling the truth, that should not be a threat. It should be a relief.
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