12 citizens are fighting to keep their US citizenship: Who can be next?

The Trump Administration has started cases against 12 naturalised U.S. citizens.

Officials accused them of crimes, fraud, or terrorist ties. These accusations indicate a dramatic expansion of a rarely used legal process.

The targeted individuals are:

• Oscar Pelaez (Colombia): Former Catholic priest in California’s Diocese of Stockton. Pleaded no contest to sexually abusing a teenage boy.
  
• Salah Osman Ahmed (Somalia): Guilty of supporting al-Shabab (a designated terrorist group) in Minnesota in 2009.
  
• Manuel Rocha (Colombia): Former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia. Admitted to being a covert agent since 1973 as a spy for Cuba.
  

Another unnamed individual who is a former Gambian military policy officer is also accused of involvement in war crimes, including participation in the execution of six military officers during a 1994 coup.

Other unnamed individuals are from Morocco, Iraq, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, China, India, Kenya, and Bolivia.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that individuals who are involved in committing fraud, heinous crimes like sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalised.

From 1990 to 2017, only 300 denaturalisation cases were processed, making it about 11 per year.

Despite the historically low number, the Trump Administration is planning to pursue hundreds more denaturalisation cases.

Who is at risk?

Individuals who lied on their applications, are involved in serious crimes, and have committed crimes after becoming citizens are at higher risk. In the first wave, about 400 individuals are targeted.

Last year, Department of Homeland Security officials were also told to refer upward of 200 cases for denaturalisation per month.