The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the Trump administration, has launched a new section designed to handle the process of removing citizenship granted to foreign-born individuals who concealed their terrorist or criminal ties in order to fraudulently obtain their citizenship.
The new DOJ section would be formed under the DOJ’s existing Office of Immigration Litigation, according to a department press release Wednesday. The DOJ determined it needed the new section, known as the Denaturalization Section, due to a growing influx of case referrals.
Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Deputy Director Bowdich at press conference announcing charges against 4 Chinese military hackers on Feb. 10, 2020. (U.S. Department of Justice/Released)
“While the Office of Immigration Litigation already has achieved great success in the denaturalization cases it has brought, winning 95 percent of the time, the growing number of referrals anticipated from law enforcement agencies motivated the creation of a standalone section dedicated to this important work,” the DOJ said.
Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said when immigrants obtain citizenship under false pretenses, “it is an affront to our system—and it is especially offensive to those who fall victim to these criminals.”
Denaturalization cases require the DOJ to demonstrate that a defendant illegally procured their citizenship or “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”