Trump Administration’s Bid To Expand Denaturalization Faces Major Legal And Practical Hurdles

The Trump administration's proposal to significantly expand efforts to revoke US citizenship from naturalized Americans would be extremely difficult to carry out at the scale being discussed, according to a former senior official of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Ricky Murray, who previously served as USCIS Chief of Staff for Refugee and International Operations, told Newsweek that the plan is "virtually impossible" to implement given the legal and procedural barriers involved.

Internal guidance obtained by The New York Times indicates that USCIS field offices have been directed to identify and submit between 100 and 200 denaturalization cases each month during the 2026 fiscal year. This represents a dramatic increase compared with previous years. Between 2017 and 2025, just over 120 denaturalization cases were filed in total, underscoring the scale of the proposed expansion.

Denaturalization applies only to individuals who became US citizens after immigrating and cannot be carried out through administrative action alone. Federal law requires that citizenship revocation be approved by a federal court, and the legal threshold for doing so is high. Citizenship can only be revoked in limited circumstances, primarily involving fraud or misrepresentation during the naturalization process, or certain forms of criminal conduct. These restrictions make large-scale enforcement efforts particularly challenging.

Murray said that officials with experience handling denaturalization cases are well aware of how difficult such proceedings are. "People who've been working on denaturalization programs and who worked in the field office recognize that the standard is extremely high, and the idea of actually being able to process anywhere near that number is just virtually impossible," he told Newsweek.

Each denaturalization case requires the government to prove wrongdoing in either civil or criminal court, a process that demands substantial time, legal resources, and investigative work. Murray noted that even if USCIS increases the number of cases it refers to the Justice Department, the Department of Justice's standards for filing cases in federal court would not change. This, he said, would continue to limit the number of cases that could realistically move forward or succeed.

According to data from the US Census Bureau, the United States is home to approximately 26 million naturalized citizens. In the most recent year, more than 800,000 people became US citizens. The largest numbers of new citizens originally came from Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam. In many denaturalization cases, individuals who lose citizenship revert to legal permanent resident status rather than becoming undocumented.

The guidance issued by USCIS is part of the agency's broader priorities for the 2026 fiscal year, which include an increased focus on denaturalization. The Justice Department has stated that it intends to prioritize cases involving gang members, individuals convicted of financial fraud, and those linked to drug cartels or violent criminal activity. Despite these stated priorities, former officials and experts continue to question whether the administration's targets are achievable under existing legal and institutional constraints.