Justice Department Files to Strip Citizenship From 40 Convicted Offenders

The Justice Department said Monday it has filed civil denaturalization actions against 40 naturalized citizens accused of serious crimes, the largest single-period set of such complaints under the Trump administration.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the filings, which were lodged in multiple federal district courts between Aug. 21 and Oct. 2, 2026. “Today’s announcement marks the largest denaturalization effort in modern history,” Blanche said. “From an individual convicted of espionage to others convicted of sexual offenses against minors, these defendants concealed critical facts from the U.S. government and represent serious criminal offenders.”

He said the department will keep using denaturalization “to maintain our national security and protect the American people.”

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, who heads the Civil Division, was more direct. “Every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship,” Shumate said. “This administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalization effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in U.S. citizenship. Our message is clear: the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalization process.”

The department said the offenses include acting as an agent of a foreign government, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated sodomy against a man with special needs, sexual abuse of a minor, and immigration fraud. Defendants range in age from 26 to 76. The largest number came from Mexico. Other countries of origin cited in reporting on the batch include Pakistan, China, and Sierra Leone.

Two of the cases involve alleged work for China. The department is seeking to revoke the citizenship of Jinchao Wei, a China-born former Navy sailor convicted of espionage-related offenses. According to the Justice Department, Wei enlisted in 2021 and by February 2022 had begun conspiring to sell military secrets to China. The other filing names Ping Li of Florida, who pleaded guilty in 2024 to acting as an agent of Beijing without notice to the attorney general.

Denaturalization is a civil process under the Immigration and Nationality Act. A naturalized citizen’s certificate can be canceled if citizenship was illegally procured, or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation. A successful case returns the person to the immigration status he or she held before the oath, which can then support removal. It is not a criminal sentence by itself.

Most of the criminal convictions in this batch came after the defendants took the oath, the department said. Prosecutors argue the concealed conduct showed they lacked the good moral character required at the time of naturalization, or that they hid facts that would have blocked approval.

The tool has been used sparingly for decades, usually in war-crime and serious-fraud cases. Monday’s announcement is the Trump administration putting a number on a wider use of it: 40 complaints in roughly six weeks, framed by Blanche as a national-security docket rather than a paperwork sweep.