Spotlight on Denaturalization
Much of today’s immigration news coverage understandably focuses on mechanisms to gain access to U.S. immigration benefits such as visa status, humanitarian relief or permanent residency. However, recent developments highlight that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be channeling resources to strip some individuals of the ultimate U.S. immigration benefit - citizenship. While efforts to denaturalize individuals have been a rare occurrence in years past (averaging 46 cases per year from 2004 to 2016 according to The New York Times reports), there has been a notable shift as of late. Most government attempts to strip individuals of U.S. citizenship previously focused on suspected war criminals who lied on their applications, but the scope of focus has clearly expanded in recent years.