WASHINGTON:- The Trump administration is announcing Monday that it will revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud.

According to Justice Department officials, this authority was rarely used before President Trump. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed an average of just 11 legal complaints per year seeking to denaturalize U.S. citizens, historical data indicates.

Federal law has long allowed the government to attempt to naturalize foreign-born U.S. citizens who officials believe cheated to obtain their citizenship by hiding information, such as criminal conduct, on their naturalization applications. But the process has historically been lengthy, complicated and rarely used, requiring officials to convince judges to strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship in civil or criminal proceedings in federal court.

The Trump administration has sought to vastly increase naturalization efforts as part of a broader crackdown on illegal and legal immigration. In 2025, the Justice Department expanded the categories of naturalized citizens who would be prioritized for naturalization. Last month, officials announced a dozen naturalization cases, at the time the largest effort in years.

Some of the 17 citizens targeted in the latest denaturalization drive were convicted of violent or serious crimes, including sexual crimes against children. Others were convicted of fraud crimes or were accused of committing denaturalization fraud.

In recent federal court complaints filed across the country, Justice Department officials argued that individuals concealed their criminal activity when applying for U.S. citizenship or were ineligible for naturalization, including by lacking “good moral character,” which is one of the requirements of the naturalization process.

Those targeted in the latest round of naturalization cases include a Haitian immigrant who allegedly sexually abused his daughter. A man from the former Yugoslavia was convicted of sexually abusing a child under 15, and a Mexican immigrant convicted of receiving sexually explicit images of minors faces child sexual abuse charges.

The group includes an Indian immigrant accused of filing a fake H-1B visa application; the daughter of a Colombian drug trafficker accused of money laundering; a Jamaican-born man convicted of wire fraud; and a Cuban-born woman accused of defrauding an indigenous casino. Other naturalized citizens were charged with using false identities.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department will have “zero tolerance” for abuse of the naturalization process. “Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sex predators and fraudsters,” Blanche said.

Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said the Trump administration will “continue to use every legal avenue to denaturalize and remove aliens.” “American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly. If you come here, break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you lose that privilege,” Mullen said.

The naturalization process allows targeted citizens to challenge the government’s filing to retain their citizenship. If U.S. citizens are naturalized, they revert to their previous naturalized status, usually as permanent U.S. residents, and lose all legal benefits of U.S. citizenship, including protection from deportation.