Justice Department Files 25 Denaturalization Cases in Two Weeks, the Most It Has Ever Filed at Once

The Justice Department announced on Aug. 3, 2026 that it had filed 25 civil denaturalization complaints between July 20 and Aug. 3 in district courts around the country, which it called the largest coordinated denaturalization effort in the department's history. The complaints allege the defendants obtained citizenship through fraud, concealment or other unlawful conduct, including concealing violent crimes, sexual offenses against children and false identities. The department said it has now filed 123 civil denaturalization complaints since Jan. 20, 2025.

Denaturalization strips citizenship from people who already hold it, and the civil process carries fewer procedural protections than the criminal one — no right to appointed counsel and a lower burden than beyond a reasonable doubt. The historical baseline is the measure of the shift: researchers put the federal government at roughly 11 cases a year between 1990 and 2017.

The complaints have been filed but not adjudicated; each defendant may contest the allegations in district court.