President Donald Trump appears to be attempting to redefine what constitutes a U.S. citizen. Since his return to the White House, he has not only intensified [missing phrase] but also questioned the citizenship status of foreign-born U.S. citizens, raising widespread concerns about the potential weaponization of denaturalization.
Trump has focused especially on Minnesota, due to extensive investigations into fraudulent schemes targeting state government-funded programs. The President has leveraged the scandal to [missing verb] and accused the group of “destroying” the state, as some individuals of Somali descent were implicated. He seems to be blaming the entire community instead of the specific individuals involved.
Referring to members of the Somali community, Trump confirmed this week that his administration is exploring revoking the naturalized citizenship of some Americans. “I’d do it immediately if they were dishonest,” Trump [missing verb] the New York Times in an interview held Wednesday night. “I believe many of the people who came from Somalia hate our country.”
While the Trump administration is actively examining the criteria for revoking citizenship, the President did not name the specific foreign-born groups that would be targeted. Instead, he stated: “If they deserve to have their citizenship stripped, I would do it, yes.” Trump also did not clarify what exactly would make someone “deserve” denaturalization, or whether he was referring to existing legal standards for the process.
TIME has contacted the White House to request a comment.
This is not the first instance where Trump and his team members have [missing phrase] as part of ongoing immigration crackdown efforts. In December, during an appearance on Fox & Friends, the White House press secretary [missing verb] that the administration was “looking into” revoking the citizenship of Somali-descended individuals convicted in the fraud cases. This somewhat mirrored Trump’s previous statements, where he [missing verb] “send them back to where they came from” regarding members of the Somali community in Minnesota.
Trump has also directed his threats at individual people.
He has stated his wish to revoke the U.S. citizenship of American-born opponents, though it is unclear how he would legally attempt to do so. The President twice [missing verb] New York-born comedian Rosie O’Donnell—one of his long-time sparring partners for decades. O’Donnell, who relocated to Ireland after Trump’s 2024 election victory, [missing verb] his remarks.
But Trump’s primary focus has been on foreign-born U.S. citizens. He previously questioned the citizenship status of the New York Mayor, who was born in Uganda and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. In December, he [missing verb] an individual born in Somalia who obtained U.S. citizenship at age 17 in 2000. During a speech in Pennsylvania, Trump told an enthusiastic crowd: “We should get her (Omar) out of here.” He then listened as the crowd chanted “send her back.”
If Trump—who ran on a platform of [missing phrase]—carries out his threats against foreign-born Americans, it would represent a major escalation of his immigration crackdown. In November, the President [missing verb] the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Somalis in Minnesota. Following an [missing noun] in Washington, D.C. that killed a National Guard member (a crime for which an Afghan national was identified as the sole suspect), Trump ordered [missing noun] on green card entries to the U.S. from 19 countries, including Somalia. That list of countries subject to full or partial travel restrictions [missing verb] to 39.
Furthermore, in December, internal documents from the Trump administration to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices reportedly imposed a monthly quota for denaturalization cases starting in 2026. The USCIS offices were instructed to “provide the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100 to 200 denaturalization cases each month,” per guidance obtained by [missing source]. The quota would represent a steep rise in denaturalization cases for U.S. citizens: between 1990 and 2017, 305 cases were filed—an average of 11 per year—before Trump took office, according to [missing source]. Trump’s first term saw a higher number of cases than this average, with [missing number] filed during his administration.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey responded to the reported quota initiative by condemning “attacks on immigrants and their citizenship rights.”
“The Trump administration’s latest anti-immigrant move is xenophobia masquerading as policy. It is repulsive and cruel to strip the citizenship of Americans who have lived in this country for years. All U.S. citizens—no matter where they were born—are entitled to all of our nation’s constitutional protections,” he stated.
What Is the Legal Grounds for Revoking a U.S. Citizen’s Citizenship?
According to [missing source], a naturalized U.S. citizen can only have their citizenship revoked “if there is intentional deception on the part of the individual in misrepresenting or failing to disclose a material fact or facts on their naturalization application and subsequent interview.”
Successful denaturalization cases primarily depend on whether the misrepresentation was willful, whether that misrepresentation allowed the individual to obtain citizenship, or whether the citizenship was [missing phrase].
A naturalized citizen’s status can also be revoked “if the individual becomes a member of, or associated with, the Communist Party, another totalitarian party, or a terrorist organization within five years of their naturalization.”
[Missing agency] will refer such cases for revocation if there is “sufficient evidence to prove that the individual is subject to one of the revocation grounds.” These cases have no statute of limitations, per [missing source], which established a dedicated denaturalization section in 2020 during Trump’s first administration.