Some naturalized citizens who have committed espionage, sexual offenses, and other serious transgressions will have their citizenship revoked. The Department of Justice announced this week that 40 individuals whose crimes include acting as an agent for a foreign government, committing voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated sodomy against a special?'needs man will be denaturalized.

The DOJ reported that complaints filed between August 21 and October 2 represent the biggest volume of complaints submitted in a single period during President Donald Trump’s administration. “Today’s announcement marks the largest denaturalization effort in modern history,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice will continue to employ the denaturalization process to maintain our national security and protect the American people.”

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division continued, “Every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship. This administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalization effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in U.S. citizenship. Our message is clear: the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalization process.”

The DOJ also explained that according to the Immigration and Nationality Act, “a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”

Chris Gacek, senior fellow for Regulatory Affairs at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand there are standards set in place that naturalized citizens must meet for a reason. “When you have people coming into the United States, you don’t always know what their background is, and even though they’re naturalized, there has to be some sort of failsafe in case they lied on their application. When you come into the country and when you become naturalized, you have to satisfy certain conditions.”

In June 2025, the DOJ put out a directive to prioritize denaturalization when necessary, stating, “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; to 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.”

Shumate said in July that no criminal gets an exception to the rule. “We refuse to give a free pass to criminals who cheated their way into American citizenship. Under this administration, if you defrauded the naturalization process, you will face the full force of the Justice Department. We’ve only scratched the surface — many more complaints are coming.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also remarked in July, “When you commit fraud during the naturalization process, you forfeit the right to keep your U.S. citizenship. These criminal aliens, comprised of drug traffickers, pedophiles, and fraudsters, lost that right and exploited our immigration system — harming real U.S. citizens. DHS is committed to ensuring we denaturalize and remove these fraudsters with every tool at our disposal.”