DOJ Files 40 Denaturalization Cases, Calls It the Largest Effort in Modern History

The Justice Department announced Monday it has filed denaturalization complaints against 40 naturalized U.S. citizens, a batch of cases Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called the "largest denaturalization effort in modern history."

The cases were filed in federal courts across the country between August 21 and October 2, 2026, according to the DOJ. The defendants range in age from 26 to 76 and came from 20 countries. The largest single group came from Mexico, though the exact count varies by source: Newsweek, citing a DOJ press release, puts it at eight, while USA Today, citing a list shared by the Department of Homeland Security, puts it at 11. Four defendants came from Pakistan.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a federal court can strip a naturalized citizen's citizenship if the government proves it was obtained illegally, through concealment of a material fact, or through willful misrepresentation. These are civil cases, not criminal prosecutions, meaning the government doesn't need a criminal conviction to win, though many of the defendants here already have one.

Who's on the list

Jinchao Wei, a Chinese-born former Navy sailor, is the highest-profile name. Wei enlisted in the Navy in 2021 and, according to the Justice Department, began conspiring to sell military secrets to China by February 2022, three months before he became a U.S. citizen in May 2022 under a fast-track program for honorably serving service members. He was convicted in August 2025 on espionage and unlawful export charges and sentenced to 200 months in prison, according to The Hindu.

Balwinder Singh, of California, is accused of submitting two separate immigration applications under two identities, one in 1992 and one in 2003, then naturalizing in 2009 under the second identity. Fingerprints tie both applications to him, the DOJ says.

Raul Cisneros, 76, pleaded guilty in California to lewd and lascivious acts on a minor and is accused of lying on his naturalization forms by claiming he had never committed a crime, according to USA Today. Nadia Hassan Mohamed Ali, 58, an Egyptian native, is accused of using fraudulent H-1B petitions to help a family member stay in the country and misrepresenting her own work history during naturalization, per Newsweek.

Al Jazeera reports the broader list of alleged offenses includes acting as an agent for a foreign government, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated sodomy against a man with special needs, money laundering, tax evasion and child pornography charges.

Not everyone on the list has a violent record

USA Today reports that at least 25 of the 40 cases are tied not to violent crime but to lying on visa or naturalization paperwork. That distinction matters. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate framed the entire group in blanket terms, saying "every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship" and that the department will "restore trust and integrity in U.S. citizenship."

One of those paperwork cases is already being contested. Walid Osman, 62, an Egyptian native accused of lying on naturalization forms, has no criminal record, according to his attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. "The DOJ's filing is riddled with errors and speculation," Sandoval-Moshenberg told USA Today. "Mr. Osman has no criminal record to speak of, and will vigorously defend this case in court." That pushback is a legitimate check on a process that, by design, relies on the government's own factual allegations until a court weighs in. Newsweek, Al Jazeera and Just The News did not include this detail in their coverage.

The scale is real, by the numbers

Researchers at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse told USA Today that denaturalization, "once a rare occurrence in federal courts, is now becoming increasingly common." The New York Times reported an average of just 11 denaturalization cases a year between 1990 and 2017. Forty cases filed in six weeks blows past that historical pace, and Ground News reports it surpasses the total number of attempted denaturalizations in recent years combined.

Al Jazeera notes the legal tool itself isn't new. The government denaturalized dozens of people after World War II for concealing Nazi collaboration or war crimes, and anarchist Emma Goldman was stripped of citizenship and deported to the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. What's changed is the pace and the breadth of who qualifies, now stretching from an espionage conviction to a disputed visa-paperwork allegation with no underlying crime at all.

The next step plays out in federal courtrooms, case by case. Each defendant gets to contest the government's allegations in civil proceedings, and Osman's case will be an early test of how much scrutiny the DOJ's claims hold up to when a defendant actually fights back.