DOJ files to strip citizenship from 40 naturalized Americans, calling it the largest denaturalization push in modern history

The Justice Department announced Monday that it has sued in federal court to revoke the citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans, filing complaints across multiple U.S. district courts in what Attorney General Todd Blanche called "the largest denaturalization effort in modern history." The cases, filed between Aug. 21 and Oct. 2, cover offenses the department says were concealed during the naturalization process, from espionage to sex crimes against minors to acting as an agent of a foreign government.

The announcement landed on the same morning the Supreme Court opened its new October 2026 term. It is not a criminal proceeding. Every one of the 40 cases is a civil suit, meaning the government must prove its allegations in court before any citizenship is actually taken away. Still, the volume is striking on its own.

What the filings say

The Justice Department filed denaturalization actions in multiple U.S. district courts against 40 individuals accused of serious offenses, including acting as an agent for a foreign government, committing voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated sodomy against a special-needs man. The complaints were filed between Aug. 21 and Oct. 2, 2026, and represent the largest volume of complaints submitted in a single period under the Trump administration.

Attorney General Blanche said in a statement Monday: "Today's announcement marks the largest denaturalization effort in modern history. 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."

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, who leads the Civil Division, said: "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 individuals came from around the globe, with the greatest number being from Mexico, and they range in age from 26 to 76. Among those targeted is Balwinder Singh, a California resident whose case has been filed in that state's Eastern District court. One of the targets is 60-year-old Cuban-born Javier Marrero-Pando, who in May 2020 forced a man with special needs to perform sexual acts against his will, according to the Justice Department. In October 2020, Marrero-Pando allegedly lied under oath that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. DOJ says the false statement led immigration authorities to approve his naturalization application.

The legal framework

Denaturalization is a civil case to take citizenship back. It is not a criminal trial. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the government can revoke citizenship that was illegally obtained or won by hiding or misrepresenting material facts. Each case still has to be proven in court.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, naturalized U.S. citizenship can be revoked by a federal court if the government establishes that it was illegally obtained or procured through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation. The process traces back decades. Denaturalization was heavily used during the McCarthy era of the late 1940s and early 1950s, and it has been used since to strip citizenship from those who lied about criminal convictions or membership in groups like the Nazi party on their citizenship applications.

Immigration law scholars have questioned whether the current scale is sustainable constitutionally. Robertson told NPR that the DOJ's pursuit of denaturalization cases is particularly concerning, saying that stripping Americans of citizenship through civil litigation violates due process and infringes on rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

A surge with no recent parallel

The 40-case batch is not an isolated event. It lands on top of an already dramatic increase. At least 105 lawsuits were filed in the first seven months of 2026; this nearly matches the roughly 125 cases TRAC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research project, recorded over the entire period from 2008 through 2025. That tally does not even include the 40 additional cases announced by the Justice Department between Aug. 21 and Oct. 2.

Under previous administrations, federal authorities averaged about 15 denaturalization cases a year, a Justice Department official told NBC News. Research by Hofstra law professor Irina Manta found that Trump's first administration filed 42 cases yearly on average, while the Biden administration averaged 16.

The Trump administration is also directing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to refer 100 to 200 denaturalization cases each month, according to internal guidance obtained by The New York Times. At that pace, the current caseload would dwarf anything in American history within a single fiscal year.

About 24.5 million Americans are naturalized citizens, according to the Migration Policy Institute, so 40 cases are a small number next to that total, for now. The question officials and civil liberties attorneys are watching is where the line sits between fraud-based revocations and a broader use of the tool against naturalized citizens with no criminal records.

The broader context: ICE courthouse arrests, blocked

The denaturalization filing comes days after another major federal court ruling on immigration enforcement. A federal judge permanently barred ICE from arresting immigrants in or near immigration courthouses anywhere in the country, finding that the Trump administration's policy authorizing those arrests was invalid. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York ruled Sept. 30 that ICE's 2025 courthouse arrest policy was "arbitrary and capricious" under the Administrative Procedure Act and ordered the policy set aside.

Castel's ruling, detailed in a 36-page order, grants summary judgment to the plaintiffs and extends a temporary judicial stay he issued in May into a permanent, nationwide bar. The ruling means ICE must again operate under a 2021 policy governing civil immigration enforcement at or near immigration courts. The decision comes after more than a year of aggressive ICE enforcement at the facility, during which masked agents dragged men, women, and even children through the hallways, many of whom had no criminal records.

The two developments, the courthouse arrest ban and the denaturalization blitz, point in opposite directions on enforcement tactics. One arm of the federal government lost ground in court this week. Another opened an entirely new legal frontier against a different category of people: those already holding citizenship papers.

What to Watch

• Federal courts in multiple districts will now begin processing the 40 individual denaturalization suits. Watch for early rulings on whether any of the cases move forward or get dismissed on procedural grounds.
• USCIS has been directed to refer 100 to 200 denaturalization cases each month under guidance that took effect with fiscal year 2026 in October. The first full monthly referral totals under that quota are due to become visible soon.
• The Justice Department has not yet said whether it will appeal the African Communities Together v. Lyons courthouse-arrest ruling by Judge Castel to the Second Circuit. A decision on appeal, or the lack of one, will signal how the administration weighs the legal risk of defending that policy further.
• Civil rights groups note the policy's potential reach into Asian American communities, given that India, the Philippines, and Vietnam were among the top five countries of origin for the 818,500 people who became citizens in fiscal 2024, and that Asian immigrants naturalize at higher rates than other groups.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice press release | NBC News | Newsweek | Time | Hoodline/Courthouse News (Castel ruling) | ACLU | NPR