Stripping some naturalized Americans of citizenship is now a top priority of the U.S. Justice Department, according to a memorandum recently made public.
“President Trump and Attorney General (Pam) Bondi have directed the Civil Division to use its enforcement authorities to advance the administration’s policy objectives,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate explained in the June 11 directive.
Attorneys in the division are instructed to pursue civil actions to “denaturalize” those who “illegally procured” citizenship through fraudulent means. The “overall integrity of the naturalization program” will also be served by rescinding citizenship from those engaged in criminal activity.
Brett Shumate
“The benefits of civil denaturalization include the government’s ability to revoke the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings or other serious human rights abuses,” Shumate said.
The process would “remove naturalized criminals, gang members or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport.”
Given the Trump administration’s frequently contested claims that immigrants are criminals, this new directive has raised eyebrows once again.
“The directive marks a dramatic escalation in the federal government’s use of civil denaturalization, a rarely invoked legal mechanism that does not require criminal charges or a jury trial. Critics say it opens the door to political targeting and racial profiling under the guise of immigration enforcement,” according to Migrant Insider, an immigrant news Substack.
“The internal memo reflects a broader shift within the DOJ’s Civil Division from a defensive posture — typically representing the government in litigation — to an aggressive enforcement arm charged with advancing ideological objectives through civil law.”
The denaturalization effort is one of five areas targeted in the memo. The others are combating DEI and other “discriminatory” practices, ending antisemitism, protecting women and children, and ending sanctuary jurisdictions.
Americans should be concerned the administration’s focus on naturalized citizens may not be limited to criminals and frauds, said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice.
“Make no mistake: None of us should be comfortable that the same Trump administration that is eviscerating American due process, arresting political opponents, deporting U.S. military spouses, deploying American troops to American communities and sending masked and militarized ICE agents to terrorize American communities will now decide and define who is ‘undesirable’ and unworthy of the citizenship oath they’ve already sworn or the flag they salute to,” she said.
A federal judge in New York, meanwhile, ruled the administration cannot terminate the legal status hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants.
The July 1 decision by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn restores the Temporary Protected Status of 350,000 Haitians through February 2026 as set during the Biden administration. The decision was in response to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent announcement the program would end in September.
Kristi Noem
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision was unlawful because she “does not have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country’s TPS designation,” according to the opinion. “In other words, Secretary Noem cannot reconsider Haiti’s TPS designation in a way that takes effect before February 3, 2026, the expiration of the most recent previous extension.”
The administration plans to appeal the ruling, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement published by CBS News: “District courts have no authority to prohibit the executive branch from enforcing immigration laws or from terminating discretionary temporary benefit programs.”
The Trump administration has targeted temporary status programs for immigrants from troubled nations. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the president could begin issuing termination notices to more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans enrolled in the CHNV parole program.
While Cogan’s ruling on Haiti is good news for its beneficiaries, longer-term protections are needed for immigrants from that impoverished nation, according to the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“Haiti remains deeply unsafe. Thousands of Haitian clients in our network are terrified to return home to murderous gangs and a failed economy,” CLINIC Executive Director Anna Gallagher said. “As Catholics who believe in the sanctity of all life, we urge the administration to save lives by preserving protections for Haitians.”
According to one of the latest polls on the administration’s immigration policies, U.S. adults are increasingly concerned about the president’s deportation campaign.
About a quarter of U.S. adults (23%) say they worry a lot or some that they or someone close to them could be deported,” Pew Research Center found in a June 27 study. That was up slightly from 19% in March with noncitizens leading the way in harboring those concerns.
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