The U.S. government has moved to prioritise revocation of citizenship of naturalised Americans guilty of certain crimes.

This development widens President Donald Trump’s crackdown illegal immigration

U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Brett Shumate, in a memo directed U.S. attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.” 

It added that naturalised Americans found to have “committed human trafficking, sex offenses, or violent crimes” and those who “engaged in various forms of financial fraud against the United States (including Paycheck Protection Program (‘PPP’) loan fraud and Medicaid/Medicare fraud)” would be denaturalised and deported.

The assistant attorney general said “individuals who pose a potential danger to national security, including those with a nexus to terrorism, espionage, or the unlawful export from the United States of sensitive goods, technology, or information raising national security concerns” are also a major priority. 

Mr Shumate noted that “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.”

This move would see naturalised Americans tried and guilty of any of the listed crimes lost their American citizenship, facing possible deportation from the U.S.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in the last 10 years, about 7.9 million immigrants became naturalized Americans.