PHOENIX — The Trump administration has vowed to step up revocations of citizenship from some naturalized Americans as part of a broader effort to intensify immigration enforcement. The Department of Justice has filed or resolved 34 publicly announced denaturalization cases as of May 19, including 11 that resulted in citizenship revocations.

In the last 16 months, the Trump Justice Department says it has filed more denaturalization cases—64—than were filed during all four years of the Biden administration, according to available data. The cases largely involve allegations of fraud, child sexual abuse, terrorism-related activity, war crimes, and drug trafficking. In court filings, the DOJ argues that defendants concealed conduct that would have disqualified them from demonstrating the "good moral character" required for citizenship.

"The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process," a DOJ spokesman said in a statement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was "trying to protect the integrity of the naturalization process."

Denaturalization cases are historically rare and typically target individuals accused of concealing serious criminal conduct or affiliations with terrorist groups during the naturalization process. One such case involved Melchor Munoz, whose citizenship was revoked after the DOJ argued he concealed drug dealing activity. Munoz’s attorney, Joe Pace, disputes the timeline, saying the drug activity began after naturalization. After a two-day trial, a federal judge found Munoz’s "testimony not credible." Munoz, now on a green card and residing in Florida, plans to appeal.

"I'm not seeing a major surge of worrisome denaturalizations. To me, it's not at the level of an emergency," said Daniel Kanstroom, professor of law at Boston College who specializes in immigration. He added, "These are cases in which the law is pretty clear that people are entitled to due process. They're entitled to be heard by a federal judge, not just an immigration judge. So the protections in place for people facing denaturalization are pretty robust." Kanstroom said he is reassured by the fact that each of these cases have been assigned to judges in federal districts across the country, are going through the regular civil or criminal docket and are overall "happening within the parameters of the law."

In many of the cases reviewed by NPR, defendants lacked legal representation. Civil denaturalization cases generally have no statute of limitations, and defendants are not entitled to appointed attorneys if they cannot afford them. Several cases resulted in denaturalization with minimal or no court appearance by the defendant.