After illegal immigrants, the target of the Donald Trump administration is going to be legal immigrants who were not born on US soil. This target group is not any visa holders, neither Green Card holders but are naturalized citizens who were not born in the US. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has been working silently on this for the past several months, NBC News reported. The USCIS has been sending experts to its offices around the country to find out if some citizens who were naturalized through these offices could be stripped of their citizenship.

100-200 cases per month

The goal of emphasizing naturalized citizens is to supply the office of immigration litigation with 100 to 200 possible cases per month, one of the people familiar with the plans told NBC. Denaturalization cases are rare as this could only happen when a person is found to have concealed criminal histories during their citizenship process. The new target of 100-200 cases per month is an aggressive push by the administration to empty out the country, while in President Trump’s first term, a total of 102 such cases were reported. USCIS has decided to dedicate staff for this purpose and they are touring all offices. Since denaturalization is a long process and may not be proved in the court, the target has been kept high so that at least some cases materializeUSCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said the agency re.views cases of naturalized citizens when there is credible evidence that citizenship was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. “We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards fraud in the naturalization process and will pursue denaturalization proceedings for any individual who lied or misrepresented themselves,” he said. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue those undermining the integrity of America’s immigration system and work alongside the Department of Justice to ensure that only those who meet citizenship standards retain the privilege of US citizenship.”

What is denaturalization? What are the grounds for that?

Denaturalization is the legal process by which a government revokes a person’s citizenship after it was granted through naturalization. The most common grounds for denaturalization are:

The US Department of Justice files a civil lawsuit if any of these conditions are found. The government has to prove that the person did not qualify for naturalization, as they suppressed facts. If the citizenship is revoked, the individual goes back to their previous immigration status — Green Card holders in most cases. If there is no valid status, they may face deportation.