With Congress adding $170.7 billion to President Trump’s enforcement machine, the Administration is now attempting to strip Americans of their citizenship. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) released this briefing in response to a June 11, 2025 memorandum from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which identified denaturalization as a top enforcement priority for its Civil Division but drastically expands what is permitted under current law. Already, President Trump called for the deportation of New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a naturalized citizen since 2018, and the expatriation of comedian Rosie O’Donnell, a U.S.-born citizen.

⚠️ Key Concerns

• Expansion of Denaturalization: The briefing warns that denaturalization, once reserved for extreme cases (e.g., fraud or war crimes), is now being weaponized for broader political and enforcement goals. Notably, the memorandum prioritizes these people, among others, for denaturalization:
  • Any citizen DOJ “determines to be sufficiently important to pursue.”
  • Cases against individuals DOJ deems a “potential danger to national security.”
  • Citizens who further or furthered the unlawful enterprise of criminal gangs.
  • Citizens who engaged in various forms of financial fraud against the United States or against corporations.
  • Citizens who “acquired naturalization through government corruption.”
  • Citizens referred “in connection with pending criminal charges
• Expatriation of US Born Citizens: The briefing cites law that allows the government to strip a US born citizen of their citizenship or “expatriate” them based on only a few reasons such as committing treason, or naturalizing or declaring allegiance to another country.
• Civil Liberties Risks: AILA highlights the erosion of due process and the chilling effect on naturalized citizens, who may now face legal uncertainty for minor infractions or political expression.
• Presidential Influence: Recent statements by the President suggest a politicized approach to citizenship revocation, raising alarm about the undermining of the integrity of U.S. citizenship. Historically, stripping citizenship was a tool weaponized both in Nazi Germany and during the McCarthy era. In many rulings, the Supreme Court has sought to shield
  citizenship from political targeting.
• Wasting Tax Payer Dollars: The new DOJ policy will waste taxpayer resources and will almost certainly target individuals for minor administrative errors. The first Trump Administration pursued cases involving minor discrepancies in a citizen’s file, including typographical or translation errors

📌 AILA’s Position

• AILA urges Congress and the courts to provide oversight and ensure that denaturalization efforts comply with statutory and constitutional protections.
• The organization calls for transparency, legal safeguards, and restraint in the use of denaturalization powers.

📄 You can access the full policy brief directly from AILA here: AILA Brief on DeNatz Targeting