On the wings of an appeals court victory to block some federal funds from lawless sanctuary cities and states, the Trump administration, working with AG Bill Barr’s DOJ is getting more aggressive. This time they are launching a new effort, specifically a section within the DOJ to remove citizenship from foreign-born individuals who fraudulently obtained their status by failing to disclose certain atrocities.
Included in the list would be convictions of serious crimes including terrorism and war crimes. The unit will fall within the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation. The government will be required to show that citizenship was obtained under false pretenses, or “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”
This will all be based on N-400 naturalization forms being falsely filed. This particular program isn’t targeting those who committed certain crimes after becoming citizens, only those that have fraudulently obtained said citizenship, and it looks like actually deportation itself may be off of the table. Fox News stated:
“When a terrorist or sex offender becomes a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it is an affront to our system — and it is especially offensive to those who fall victim to these criminals,” Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said. “The new Denaturalization Section will further the Department’s efforts to pursue those who unlawfully obtained citizenship status and ensure that they are held accountable for their fraudulent conduct.”
A list of examples was also included in the report by Fox.
Officials have pointed to recent cases whereby the DOJ has secured the denaturalization of terrorists, war criminals and sex offenders. They include:
- An individual convicted of terrorism in Egypt who admitted recruiting for Al Qaeda in the U.S. He was denaturalized while in Egypt and had his passport taken away from him.
- An individual who received military training in an Afghan jihadist camp and coordinated with 9/11 mastermind Usama Bin Laden. He “self-deported” to Somaliland.
- An individual who was convicted in Bosnia of executing eight unarmed civilians and prisoners of war during the Balkans conflict. He was denaturalized while serving a sentence in Bosnia.
- One individual who engaged in sexual contact with a 7-year-old family member and another who sexually abused a minor for multiple years.
