President Donald Trump said he would be willing to pursue denaturalization—revoking U.S. citizenship for some naturalized Americans—“in a heartbeat” if he believed they obtained citizenship dishonestly.
Trump made the comments during a wide-ranging, roughly two-hour interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. He initially referenced Somali-Americans.
“I would do it in a heartbeat if they were dishonest,” Trump said. “I think that many of the people that came in from Somalia, they hate our country.”
He added that he would not limit the idea to Somali-Americans, indicating his administration is taking steps to pursue denaturalization in other cases as well.
“If they deserve to be stripped, I would, yes,” he said.
Why it matters
The Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, including efforts to revoke certain legal protections and expanded operations targeting people in the country without legal status. Denaturalization is a more difficult and uncommon path because citizenship can typically be revoked only under narrow circumstances and usually requires the government to prove its case in court.
What to know
Trump has raised the idea of revoking U.S. citizenship before, including past comments about birthright citizenship. The issue has gained renewed attention in recent weeks as the administration has emphasized immigration enforcement in Minnesota, where Somali-American communities are a significant presence.
The White House’s focus comes amid investigations in the state into alleged fraud. Trump suggested that if authorities determine someone obtained citizenship improperly, he would want that person’s citizenship revoked. Longstanding legal precedent generally allows denaturalization when the government can prove a person lied or committed fraud during the naturalization process, along with a small set of other limited grounds.
In mid-December, guidance reported by The New York Times said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices were asked to provide the Justice Department with 100–200 denaturalization case referrals per month during fiscal year 2026. By comparison, just over 120 denaturalization cases were filed in total between 2017 and 2025.
Trump has also publicly threatened citizenship-related actions against several high-profile individuals, including comedian Rosie O’Donnell, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, and others.
Legal experts have cautioned that a large-scale denaturalization push would be expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to execute. They have also warned that targeting one nationality or community could draw significant constitutional challenges.
What people are saying
Ricky Murray, a former USCIS official, said that focusing denaturalization on a single nationality would likely face serious legal hurdles, arguing that naturalized citizens are entitled to the same constitutional protections as those born in the United States, including due process and equal-protection principles.
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said the executive branch cannot revoke citizenship on its own and must ask a court to do so—typically by proving that the person committed fraud to obtain citizenship, such as lying about a serious offense before naturalization.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a December statement to Fox News that U.S. law allows denaturalization when citizenship was obtained fraudulently.
What happens next
Although Trump endorsed denaturalization in principle and USCIS field offices have reportedly been given targets for case referrals, there have not been widespread reports of Americans losing citizenship so far. Any significant expansion would likely depend on how aggressively cases are pursued, how courts respond, and whether challenges to the policy’s scope succeed.
