According to Trump, he’d do it in a ‘heartbeat’
A significant number of Americans could be at risk of losing their citizenship if Trump follows through on his plans.
The president has discussed denaturalization for a while, but reports suggest he is now taking concrete steps to turn the idea into reality.
According to USA.gov, naturalization is the voluntary process of becoming a U.S. citizen. To be eligible, an individual must be at least 18 years old, able to read, write, and speak basic English, and demonstrate “good moral character.”
Although naturalization has been a part of American history for centuries, that hasn’t stopped Trump from pushing for changes.
Just last month, he stated that he was “absolutely” planning to denaturalize certain Americans.
“We have criminals that came into our country, and they were naturalized maybe through [President Joe] Biden or somebody that didn’t know what they were doing,” he said in early December.
Trump added: “If I have the power to do it — I’m not sure that I do, but if I do — I would denaturalize, absolutely.”
Now, just over a month later, Trump is reportedly taking steps to strip some Americans of their citizenships.
The New York Times, who recently sat down with Trump for a two-hour-long interview, said that ‘his administration was examining the criteria for taking away citizenship’.
He told the newspaper which people he’ll be looking at specifically, stating: “I think that many of the people that came in from Somalia, they hate our country.”
His crackdown allegedly won’t be limited to the Somali community, but Trump failed to divulge who else would be targeted.
“If they deserve to be stripped, I would, yes,” he continued to say.
A lot of organizations have hit out at the president for his plans.
In a scathing statement, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said : “These efforts to strip citizenship from Americans are systemic and chilling.
“They have made U.S. citizens fearful that mistakes made years ago on their past applications could be used to target them, take away their citizenship, and destroy their lives.
“The Trump administration’s denaturalization efforts have made lawful permanent residents scared to pursue citizenship and fully engage civically. What was once a celebratory moment recognizing an immigrant’s integration into American life now comes with an undercurrent of fear and suspicion.”
As it stands, the process of denaturalization is a long one and it can only occur by judicial order either through civil proceedings or a criminal conviction for naturalization fraud. With this in mind, very few happen.
As per Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), from 1990 to 2017, an average of 11 denaturalization cases were opened per year.
