Trump Administration Files Denaturalization Cases Against 12 Naturalized Citizens for Fraud, Crimes or Terrorism Ties

The Trump administration on Friday announced a major expansion of its denaturalization campaign. S. citizens born overseas.

Officials said the targeted individuals had committed serious crimes or immigration fraud, or had ties to terrorism. The announcement represents a dramatic increase in the federal government's use of denaturalization.

U.S. Government filed just over 300 denaturalization cases, an average of 11 per year. CBS News reported that the current actions therefore represent more than a year's historical average in a single day.

U.S. Citizens whose citizenship the Justice Department is seeking to revoke includes immigrants from Bolivia, China, Colombia, Gambia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia and Uzbekistan. Among them is a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor.

The targeted group also includes a man born in Morocco with alleged ties to al Qaeda and a Somali immigrant who pleaded guilty to providing material support to al Shabaab.

-designated terrorist group. A former Gambian police officer allegedly involved in war crimes is among those targeted. The group further includes individuals who allegedly used false identities to apply for immigration benefits and a man who allegedly entered into sham marriages to commit immigration fraud.

In a separate announcement Friday, the Justice Department announced it is seeking to denaturalize Manuel Rocha, a former American diplomat. Manuel Rocha admitted to being a Cuban spy as part of a high-profile criminal case. The denaturalization process involves Justice Department lawyers filing civil or criminal cases in federal courts and trying to convince judges that someone's citizenship should be terminated.

U.S. law allows denaturalization when the government proves a naturalized citizen obtained citizenship illegally or through fraud, or concealed information on their immigration applications. Those whose citizenship is revoked lose all legal benefits of being an American citizen and return to their previous legal status, typically as permanent residents.

Permanent residents whose citizenship is revoked are deportable based on certain criminal conduct and other grounds. U.S. In an interview with CBS News earlier this week, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he believes there are a lot of individuals who are citizens who shouldn't be.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said only a very small percentage of the roughly 24 million naturalized citizens should be worried about the administration's denaturalization efforts. Those who did not illegally obtain their citizenship don't have anything to worry about, he added.

"We should disincentivize people from committing fraud when they're going to become a citizen of this great country," Blanche said.