Congress and Legislation

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is preparing to introduce the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act, a White House-backed bill that would make it far easier for the federal government to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship for up to 10 years after they take the oath. The proposal creates a post‑naturalization window in which conviction for defrauding any level of U.S. government of $10,000 or more, committing espionage, an aggravated felony, or affiliating with a foreign terrorist organization would serve as automatic proof that the person never met the 'good moral character' requirement and can be denaturalized and deported. The bill includes a built‑in fallback: if courts strike down the 10‑year window as unconstitutional, it would automatically revert to a five‑year period rather than invalidating the whole law. Schmitt frames the measure as a response to the sprawling Minnesota social‑services fraud scandal—where prosecutors estimate up to $9 billion was stolen and some defendants are Somali immigrants—while senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller calls it a necessary response to what he labels the 'Somali fraud scandal.' Immigrant‑rights lawyers and some constitutional scholars have already warned in other forums that broad new denaturalization powers risk creating a second‑class form of citizenship for the foreign‑born, setting up a likely court fight if the bill advances.