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The Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has directed federal prosecutors to prioritize denaturalization cases against individuals who may pose a threat to national security, according to a newly released memo from the DOJ’s Civil Division.
The June 11 memo, issued by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, instructs attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”
“The Department is committed to preventing convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport,” Shumate wrote in the directive.
According to the guidance, the Justice Department will focus particularly on individuals with ties to terrorism, espionage or illegal exports of sensitive materials, as well as those who obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud or by concealing criminal histories.
Shumate said the push supports both national security and the integrity of the naturalization process by revoking citizenship from those who did not obtain it lawfully. “These proceedings reaffirm the sanctity of citizenship,” the memo stated.
The directive follows a recent case in which a naturalized citizen was denaturalized after being convicted of distributing child sexual abuse material. The individual, who had served in the U.S. Army and was originally from the United Kingdom, became a citizen in 2012. Federal officials said he lied about his criminal background during the naturalization process.
“If you commit serious crimes before you become a U.S. citizen and then lie about them during your naturalization process, the Justice Department will discover the truth and come after you,” Shumate said.
The effort is part of an ongoing partnership between the DOJ and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at identifying and prosecuting individuals who illegally obtained citizenship, particularly those involved in sexual offenses.
Last month, the DOJ announced it had successfully revoked the citizenship of a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material.
The man, a British national, became a U.S. citizen in 2013 after enlisting in the U.S. Army through a program that offers a path to citizenship for military service members, according to officials. On his naturalization application, he disclosed only a speeding ticket when asked whether he had ever committed a crime or offense for which he had not been arrested.
Several months after obtaining citizenship, he was arrested in Louisiana and later convicted on charges related to child sexual abuse material, according to the department.
