The administration of former United States President, Donald Trump, has intensified efforts to revoke the citizenship of some foreign-born Americans accused of immigration fraud, terrorism-related activities and other serious crimes, with Nigerians among those affected.
The United States Department of Justice announced on Friday that it had filed multiple denaturalisation cases in federal courts against about a dozen naturalised US citizens from different countries.
According to the department, the affected individuals allegedly obtained American citizenship illegally or through fraudulent means.
Countries listed in the crackdown include Nigeria, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Gambia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Somalia and Uzbekistan.
The move marks a major expansion of the US government’s denaturalisation programme, a legal process through which citizenship granted to naturalised Americans can be revoked.
Reports indicated that between 1990 and 2017, the US government filed slightly above 300 denaturalisation cases, averaging about 11 annually.
Among those targeted in the latest crackdown are a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, a Moroccan-born man allegedly linked to al Qaeda, and a Somali immigrant accused of supporting al Shabaab.
The list also includes individuals accused of using false identities to obtain immigration benefits and others allegedly involved in sham marriages to secure citizenship.
In a separate case, the Justice Department disclosed that it was also seeking to revoke the citizenship of Manuel Rocha, a former American diplomat who admitted working as a Cuban spy.
Under US law, denaturalisation can occur if the government proves that citizenship was obtained illegally or through concealment of vital information during immigration processes.
Individuals stripped of their citizenship lose the legal rights attached to being American citizens and may revert to permanent resident status, making them liable to deportation under certain conditions.
Speaking on the development, Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, defended the crackdown, insisting that only a small number of naturalised citizens had cause for concern.
“We should disincentivize people from committing fraud when they’re going to become a citizen of this great country,” Blanche said.
“It is a drastic consequence of committing a fraud to get citizenship, just like it is a drastic action to commit fraud to get citizenship,” he added.
