Sponsors (53)
Expands civil denaturalization by creating presumptions that certain post-naturalization terrorism, fraud (≥$10,000), or serious-crime conduct within 10 years warrants retroactive revocation and expedited removal.
Official title: To expand and clarify the grounds for civil denaturalization proceedings for individuals who have defrauded a governmental program, joined a terrorist organization, or committed certain criminal offenses.
Introduced January 20, 2026 by Thomas Earl Emmer · Last progress January 20, 2026
The bill strengthens and expedites denaturalization and removal tools to protect national security and taxpayer funds by targeting fraud and terrorism‑related conduct, but it significantly raises risks to due process, fairness, and potential discriminatory or overbroad enforcement with increased litigation and administrative costs.
Naturalized individuals convicted of or affiliated with terrorism, espionage, or other specified serious crimes can be stripped of citizenship and removed, reducing public safety risks and preventing dangerous actors from remaining in the country.
Individuals who obtained benefits or public funds by fraud (including $10,000+ benefit fraud within 10 years) can lose citizenship, deterring fraud and protecting taxpayer and state government resources.
The bill affirms that naturalization requires attachment to Constitutional principles and signals congressional concern about denaturalization case law, which could prompt DOJ and courts to adopt clearer adjudication standards and guidance for citizenship cases.
Naturalized citizens (and applicants) — including long‑time residents — risk losing citizenship retroactively or without a criminal conviction, creating serious due‑process and loss‑of‑status concerns.
The bill's broader and sometimes vague standards (e.g., 'affiliation,' expanded 'good moral character' rules) plus prima facie presumptions and expedited removal increase the chance of wrongful denaturalization, unequal or politically motivated enforcement, and reduced procedural protections.
Expanding denaturalization grounds and enforcement will likely increase litigation and administrative workloads for U.S. Attorneys, federal courts, DHS, and local agencies, raising government legal costs and burdens on the justice system.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates new, automatic legal grounds to revoke U.S. citizenship when certain serious conduct occurs within a defined period after naturalization. It adds rules to the denaturalization statute treating post-naturalization affiliation with designated foreign terrorist organizations, fraud against government programs of $10,000 or more, and certain aggravated felonies or espionage offenses as prima facie evidence that the person lacked the required moral character or attachment to the Constitution at the time of naturalization, and directs retroactive revocation and expedited removal. The bill adds a 10-year window after naturalization in which these post-naturalization acts trigger presumptions for denaturalization (with a judicial fallback to 5 years if a 10-year limit is held unconstitutional), confirms retroactive voiding of certificates, and makes denaturalized persons removable through expedited immigration procedures. It includes findings and a severability clause but does not change immigration benefit definitions beyond the denaturalization provisions themselves.