Blanche Vows Expanded DOJ Push To Strip Fraudulent U.S. Citizenship
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday in Phoenix that the Justice Department is stepping up efforts to strip U.S. citizenship from immigrants who obtained it by fraud. (Todd Blanche)
Blanche told CBS News those who became citizens through fraud "should be worried" and said there are "a lot" of such people. As of April 2026 the Justice Department had identified 384 naturalized citizens for possible denaturalization. From January 20, 2025 to April 2026 it filed 22 denaturalization cases and 15 led to citizenship revocations.
The episode traces back to the Trump administration's first term, when DOJ programs such as Operation Janus identified thousands of potential fraud cases. Those efforts pushed annual denaturalization filings far above the 1990-2017 average of about 11 per year. After Donald Trump's 2024 reelection, the Justice Department issued a June 2025 memo widening denaturalization priorities. The memo added alleged financial fraud, gang ties and other categories beyond prior focus on human-rights abusers and national-security threats. In April 2026 President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and installed Blanche as acting attorney general, a change that cleared the way for intensified enforcement.
About 818,500 people became naturalized in fiscal year 2024, underscoring the scale of U.S. naturalization. Journalists on X said Blanche framed denaturalization as a border-security tool. A retired Homeland Security official noted denaturalization is the legal route when citizenship was obtained by fraud. Blanche's remarks to CBS suggest the department will pursue more cases in coming months.
The Justice Department's intensified focus on denaturalization is echoed in various analyses and social media discussions, with many framing it as a necessary measure for border security. Journalist @Ximena_Bustillo highlights Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's assertion that stripping citizenship from those who obtained it fraudulently is part of a broader strategy to address immigration issues. This aligns with sentiments expressed by conservative commentator @RealJamesWoods, who calls for stricter measures against naturalized citizens involved in criminal activities, reflecting a growing frustration among some segments of the population regarding perceived leniency in immigration enforcement.
However, not all perspectives are unified on this issue. Retired DHS official @PeterGordon_CBP emphasizes that denaturalization is the appropriate legal recourse for citizenship obtained through fraud, suggesting that the process should be viewed through a legal lens rather than a political one. User @rowdyamerican69 defends the denaturalization initiative as a straightforward solution to citizenship fraud, arguing that the controversy stems from historical enforcement failures rather than the policy itself. This divergence in views underscores the complex and often contentious nature of immigration policy in the current political climate.
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📊 Relevant Data
As of April 2026, the Department of Justice has identified 384 naturalized U.S. citizens for potential denaturalization. ([The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html)) ([The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html))
Justice Dept. Targets Hundreds of Citizens in New Push for Denaturalization — The New York Times
From January 20, 2025, to April 2026, the Department of Justice filed 22 denaturalization cases, resulting in 15 revocations of U.S. citizenship. ([Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-doj-denaturalization-cases-target-11871353)) ([Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-doj-denaturalization-cases-target-11871353))
In fiscal year 2024, 818,500 individuals became naturalized U.S. citizens. ([U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services](https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/naturalization-statistics)) ([U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services](https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/naturalization-statistics))
Naturalization Statistics — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
📌 Key Facts
- On Wednesday, May 6, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told CBS News in Phoenix that DOJ is bringing more denaturalization cases now than in the last nine years.
- Blanche said immigrants who became citizens through fraud "should be worried" and that there are "a lot" of such individuals.
- A 2025 DOJ memo expanded denaturalization priorities to broader categories, including those accused of financial fraud, beyond past focus on human-rights abusers and national-security threats.
- From 1990 to 2017, federal officials filed just over 300 denaturalization cases, an average of about 11 per year, against a backdrop of 24 million naturalized citizens in 2023.
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