The Justice Department is moving to strip U.S. citizenship from 40 people tied to serious crimes, the largest denaturalization drive in modern history, officials say.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the drive as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice press cases against people already naturalized as Americans. The filings cover a stretch from Aug. 21 to Oct. 2 and land far above the old yearly pace for this rarely used tool.
USA TODAY reported that DHS shared a list of the 40 and that DOJ is the lead agency on the cases. Blanche cast the sweep in blunt terms.
"Today’s announcement marks the largest denaturalization effort in modern history."
He tied the targets to hidden records and hard crimes, not paperwork nits alone.
"From an individual convicted of espionage to others convicted of sexual offenses against minors, these defendants concealed critical facts from the U.S. government and represent serious criminal offenders."
For years, denaturalization barely registered in federal court. Reporting cited in the coverage put the average at about 11 cases a year from 1990 to 2017.
Researchers at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, known as TRAC, later flagged a climb. In a June report they said the once-rare step is becoming more common and that the rise is expected to continue. The new batch of 40 over roughly six weeks tops several recent years combined, the same data comparison shows.
Eleven of the 40 came from Mexico, the largest single origin group. Others traced to China, Egypt, and elsewhere. Ages run from 26 to 76. At least 19 face proceedings tied to accusations they lied on visa forms. Several more are accused of lying on naturalization paperwork.
Named cases show why the department is treating this as more than a paperwork cleanup.
Jinchao Wei, 26, from China, was convicted of selling military secrets to China. He is on the pending list.
Raul Cisneros, 76, from Mexico, pleaded guilty in California to lewd and lascivious acts on a minor. DOJ says he lied when he became a citizen by claiming he had never committed a crime.
Other bases listed across the group include aggravated sodomy, transportation of child pornography, and sexual abuse of a minor. Not every case rests on a violent conviction. The common thread DOJ stresses is concealment, facts withheld when the government decided who would receive the full rights of citizenship.
Walid Osman, 62, a native of Egypt, is among those DOJ says lied on naturalization forms. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, rejects the case in sharp language.
"The DOJ’s filing is riddled with errors and speculation. Mr. Osman has no criminal record to speak of, and will vigorously defend this case in court."
Asked whether Osman was in ICE custody, the lawyer answered directly.
"No, he’s a US citizen, and we’re going to fight to keep it that way."
That dispute will play out in court. DHS referred questions on case status back to DOJ. Outcomes for the full set of 40, how many lose citizenship, how many beat the filings, are not yet settled in the public record.
Denaturalization is a civil process aimed at people who were not eligible for citizenship in the first place, or who obtained it by fraud. The statute path is narrow on purpose. When someone hides a criminal history or a security offense to get a U.S. passport, the government has long held the power to reopen that grant.
What changed is volume and focus. Forty cases in a six-week window, framed by the attorney general as the largest modern push, signals a policy choice: treat naturalization fraud as a live enforcement priority, not a historical footnote.
The list mixes spies, child sex offenders, and people accused mainly of lying on immigration forms. Critics will seize on the disputed files and demand proof. Taxpayers and lawful immigrants have a different stake. They kept the rules. They disclosed what the forms required. They did not smuggle a conviction or a foreign intelligence deal past the same gatekeepers.
American citizenship is a prize, not a loophole. When the record shows someone lied to seize it, stripping that status is not cruelty, it is the bare minimum of a country that still means what it says at the naturalization oath.
