Washington’s immigrant communities are watching closely after the Trump administration announced a new effort to strip citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans accused of immigration fraud, a move officials describe as the largest denaturalization initiative in modern U.S. history.
The announcement has stirred concern among naturalized citizens across the District, where immigrants account for nearly 14% of the population and where roughly 44,000 residents have become U.S. citizens through naturalization. Many say they never imagined their citizenship status could become part of a national political debate.
Cathy Park, who was born in South Korea and became a U.S. citizen after immigrating with her family, said she viewed naturalization as the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice.
“A dream come true,” Park, a Northeast resident, told The Informer.
Park arrived in the United States after earning multiple scholarship offers as a teenager. Coming from a family of medical professionals, she built a life in America believing her citizenship status was permanent and secure.
That sense of certainty has changed.
“It’s scary,” Park said. “He’s like the boss of bosses and if the president wants to do something, take away our rights, our citizenships, the courts must stop him but it’s hard to imagine anyone stopping him.”
Emmanuel Kamara, who emigrated from Liberia and settled in Washington in 2012, said he also believed becoming a U.S. citizen placed questions about immigration status firmly in the past.
“I always said, beautiful things can happen in this beautiful country, and that’s what I instilled in my children, and we are proud to be looked upon as normal Americans,” he said.
Kamara explained the administration’s latest actions have unsettled many naturalized citizens who previously felt insulated from immigration enforcement efforts.
“It’s a scary time and it’s especially confusing because people like us felt we had no reason to be concerned anymore,” he said. “We’re not criminals, and I understand the government has stated that they are targeting criminals, but it seems it’s more than that.”
Administration Expands Efforts
The Justice Department announced Monday that it has filed denaturalization actions against 17 individuals accused of obtaining citizenship through fraud or concealment of disqualifying conduct.
According to federal officials, some of those targeted were convicted of serious crimes, including sex offenses involving children, while others were convicted of fraud-related offenses or accused of lying during the naturalization process.
Federal law has long permitted the government to seek revocation of citizenship when officials can prove a person obtained naturalization unlawfully or through material misrepresentation. Historically, however, such cases have been relatively rare.
The Justice Department filed an average of just 11 denaturalization complaints annually between 1990 and 2017, according to figures cited by federal officials,
The Trump administration has made denaturalization a higher priority since returning to office. In 2025, the Justice Department expanded the categories of naturalized citizens considered priorities for review. Last month, federal officials announced a dozen denaturalization cases, then described as the largest effort in years. The latest announcement exceeds that number.
Recent Justice Department information revealed that since the beginning of January 2025, the Trump administration filed more than 60 civil complaints seeking to revoke the citizenship of naturalized individuals.
“American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly. If you come here, break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.
Civil rights advocates and immigration attorneys have warned that expanding denaturalization efforts could create fear among lawfully naturalized Americans, particularly as immigration enforcement becomes a central focus of federal policy.
Data from the American Immigration Council show immigrants contribute significantly to D.C.’s workforce and economy. Immigrants represent approximately 16.7% of the city’s labor force and more than one-fifth of workers in health care and social assistance occupations. They also account for nearly 14% of STEM professionals in the District.
More than half of adult immigrants in Washington hold a college degree, and more than 85% report speaking English well or very well.
Naturalized citizens are concentrated throughout the city, particularly in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4, according to the D.C. Office of Planning. Major countries of origin include El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, China and several African nations.
The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area is also home to one of the nation’s largest populations of newly naturalized citizens. Federal data indicate roughly 23,400 lawful permanent residents in the region are currently eligible to become U.S. citizens.
Unlike deportation proceedings involving noncitizens, denaturalization cases must be litigated in federal court. Individuals targeted by the government have the right to challenge allegations and attempt to retain their citizenship. If a judge orders citizenship revoked, the individual typically reverts to lawful permanent resident status and may then face deportation proceedings.
For many naturalized Americans, the legal distinctions offer only limited comfort.
Park said she understands the administration argues it is targeting fraud but worries about where the policy could lead.
“When you become a citizen, you think that’s the end of the process,” Park said. “You think you’ve finally made it. Now people are wondering whether that security can ever really be guaranteed.”
