The Justice Department has filed federal cases across the country seeking to revoke citizenship from 17 people accused of obtaining naturalization through fraud or by hiding material facts. The lawsuits, spread across multiple courts, range from allegations of child sexual abuse and drug trafficking to immigration fraud.
Among those targeted is a Chinese-born resident of Georgia whom prosecutors say concealed a prior deportation order and immigration history under a different identity before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2006. The case is part of a denaturalization push that federal officials say is being stepped up now, even as the allegations in the filings remain just that — allegations, not convictions laid out in the public record.
In a statement on the cases, Blanche said the department had “zero tolerance” for abuse of the naturalization process. Mullin said the Department of Homeland Security would use “every lawful avenue” to identify people who had fraudulently obtained citizenship, and Shumate said the department would keep pursuing anyone who unlawfully procured naturalization or concealed material facts during the process.
The effort reaches beyond one courthouse or one city, reflecting a nationwide legal campaign rather than a single fraud case. But the filings do not name every one of the 17 people in the available record, and they do not spell out the full evidence in each matter, leaving the scope of the government’s proof to be tested in court.
That means the next phase will be decided by federal judges as the government tries to make good on a broad denaturalization push that puts serious criminal allegations and immigration deception in the same dock. For the Chinese-born Georgia resident and the others named in the filings, the immediate question is not whether the department is moving, but how far the courts will let it go.
