Senate approves ICE funding bill amid partisan divide
The Senate passed the ICE funding bill 52-47, sending the DHS immigration enhancement bill to the House for final approval.
The Justice Department is moving to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 immigrants across the country, the latest push in the Trump administration’s growing denaturalization efforts.
On June 8, the Department of Justice announced that it had filed lawsuits against naturalized citizens accused of criminal offenses including sexual abuse, wire fraud, and drug distribution in multiple districts of the United States.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, federal authorities can ask a judge to revoke a naturalized U.S. citizen’s designation if they are ineligible or do not meet the requirements under which they were granted citizenship. This is usually based on accusations that the person engaged in fraud, deception, or misrepresentation when acquiring citizenship.
“American citizenship is a privilege that must be earned honestly. If you come here and break the law and lie in the immigration process, that privilege will be taken away,” Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullin said in a statement.
Officials in the second term of the Trump administration have vowed to expand denaturalization, which has been little used in recent decades. Last year, the Justice Department released a memo directing the department’s civil rights division to “prioritize and maximize denaturalization procedures.”
Between 1990 and 2017, there was an average of 11 degenerative incidents per year. President Trump initiated the process against naturalized citizens during his first term, filing an average of about 25 cases a year.
In May, the Justice Department moved to strip more than a dozen people of their naturalized citizenship. Authorities have accused them of crimes ranging from supporting terrorist groups and war crimes to sexual abuse of minors.
Contributor: Eduardo Cuevas
