DOJ Citizenship Revocation Plans Raise Constitutional Concerns
The Justice Department issued a June 11, 2025 memo directing attorneys to “maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings,” sparking concerns about potential political targeting of naturalized citizens[1]. While the memo lists priorities like national security threats and criminal conduct, it includes broad language allowing cases deemed “sufficiently important to pursue”[1:1].
Legal experts warn this discretion could enable politically motivated denaturalization. “The politicization of citizenship rights is something that really worries me, I think it’s just flatly inconsistent with our democratic system,” said Cassandra Burke Robertson, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University[2].
Recent events highlight these concerns:
- The White House press secretary indicated support for investigating NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s citizenship based on rap lyrics[3]
- Trump suggested examining Elon Musk’s citizenship status after Musk criticized his spending bill[4]
- Trump threatened to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, though this is legally impossible as she was born in the U.S.[4:1]
Constitutional scholars emphasize that denaturalization through civil proceedings “lacks many constitutional protections,” with no right to court-appointed lawyers or jury trials[4:2]. The Supreme Court previously restricted denaturalization in 1967, ruling it “inconsistent with the American form of democracy, because it creates two levels of citizenship”[1:2].
“Denaturalization is exceedingly rare and has occurred for people who concealed information of war crimes, Nazi membership, criminal histories, or immigration fraud such as using a stolen identity,” said Michelle Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute[4:3].
NPR - DOJ announces plans to prioritize cases to revoke citizenship ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
CNN - Law used to kick out Nazis could be used to strip citizenship from many more Americans ↩︎
MSNBC - Trump’s DOJ issues memo on plan to strip citizenship ↩︎
PolitiFact - Can Donald Trump revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship? ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
If all people which are against Trump are expulsed, the US will be a country of rednecks, to stupid to pee a hole in the snow and the running joke of the rest of the world
People thought the Nazis were a joke too. Also you’re already the running joke of the world.
Implying we’re not the joke of the world now. Bold, lol.
China would take America over in a heartbeat at that point. Just wish all the rest of us had a place to go. I gladly let them keep this shit hole. Let them have this third world shit hole.