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DOJ filed civil actions to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans in multiple federal courts

On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed civil denaturalization complaints against 17 naturalized citizens in federal district courts around the country, alleging offenses including sexual abuse of a minor, fraud, and drug distribution, or concealment of criminal history during naturalization. DOJ officials described it as the largest denaturalization effort in decades; fewer than 150 people were denaturalized between 1968 and 2013. Named defendants include Maria Lourdes Montoya of Commerce City, Colorado, whom the government alleges misrepresented her spouse's identity to obtain residency and citizenship.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed civil denaturalization complaints in various U.S. district courts against 17 naturalized citizens, in what officials described as the largest denaturalization effort in decades. The complaints, brought by the Department's Civil Division, allege that the individuals either committed serious offenses — including sexual abuse of a minor, wire and bank fraud, and unlicensed wholesale distribution of drugs — or concealed material facts or criminal history during the naturalization process.

Among the named defendants is Maria Lourdes Montoya, 63, of Commerce City, Colorado, whom the government alleges represented herself as married to a U.S. citizen when her spouse was in fact a Mexican national who had assumed that identity, in order to obtain permanent residence and later citizenship. Denaturalization was long a rare remedy — fewer than 150 people were denaturalized between 1968 and 2013 — but both Trump administrations have sharply expanded its use. This filing follows an April 2026 push in which the Department referred hundreds of naturalized Americans for denaturalization review, part of a broadening effort to revoke citizenship at scale.

Updates

2026-08-04 — DOJ denaturalization push reached 123 civil complaints since Jan 2025 [4, 5]

On August 4, 2026, DOJ announced 25 additional civil denaturalization complaints filed between July 20 and August 3, 2026, bringing the total to 123 civil denaturalization complaints since January 20, 2025. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate called it "the largest denaturalization surge in recorded history," saying the department is "moving at record speed to denaturalize those who sought to deceive the federal government and abuse the naturalization process." The new filings use the same civil-complaint mechanism already documented above and represent a scale and pace escalation of that effort rather than a new legal tactic.

Why we recorded this

Naturalized citizenship is meant to be permanent and equal to birthright citizenship, with denaturalization historically reserved for rare, proven fraud. This entry records a coordinated Justice Department action filing 17 civil complaints to revoke citizenship at once, following a broader expansion of the practice. Pursuing denaturalization as scaled policy renders naturalized status contingent and revocable, moving toward a two-tier citizenship in which millions of Americans hold rights the government can seek to strip through civil litigation.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Moves to Strip U.S. Citizenship from 17 Naturalized Sex Offenders, Fraudsters, Drug Dealers, and More — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs primary accessed July 8, 2026
  2. Justice Department moves to strip citizenship from 17 people in unprecedented denaturalization push — CNN secondary accessed July 8, 2026
  3. DOJ announces plans to revoke citizenship from 17 naturalized citizens — JURIST secondary accessed July 8, 2026
  4. Justice Department Files Record 25 Denaturalization Cases — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs primary accessed August 14, 2026
  5. DOJ deploys tactic to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship — PBS NewsHour secondary accessed August 14, 2026

See also