The Trump administration announced denaturalization proceedings against 10 naturalized citizens convicted of crimes ranging from child sex abuse to nearly $900,000 in Medicare fraud, part of what officials call the largest effort to revoke fraudulently obtained citizenship in American history.
The Department of Justice filed civil complaints in federal court against all 10 individuals within a 30-day window, targeting naturalized citizens from Cuba, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, and Poland who allegedly concealed serious criminal conduct during the citizenship application process. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin jointly announced the actions Monday, framing them as a direct strike against people who exploited the immigration system to gain rights they never legally deserved.
The cases read like a catalog of the worst abuses the naturalization process was designed to screen out: a fake medical clinic billing taxpayers for bogus prescriptions, priests who sexually abused children in their own congregations, a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, and identity fraud schemes built on purchased documents. Each defendant obtained U.S. citizenship while hiding conduct that, under federal law, should have disqualified them on the grounds of lacking “good moral character.”