In the summer of 2018, the USCIS opened a brand new office and facility in Los Angeles, Southern California, which is dedicated to stripping U.S. citizenship from naturalized Americans who are found to have lied about their immigration status on their applications. The process is called de-naturalization and is affecting immigrants (now naturalized citizens) of color disproportionately than those of Northern European ancestry.
During the time of opening, Michael Bars, a USCIS spokesperson told Newsweek, “As a critical part of the USCIS mission, USCIS strives to combat instances of fraud, abuse and other nefarious activities threatening the integrity of our nation's immigration system and its faithful execution under the rule of law.”
In the past two years, as a result of this office opening and the current administration crackdown on investigating naturalized U.S. citizens, there have been more de-naturalizations than ever before in American history. This is something to be aware of for those going through the process of filing their N-400 Naturalization Application.
Here are some of the ways that a case can be questioned by immigration officials:
- Lying on your N-400 Application about your family relations/close relatives and their LPR status
- Lying about your official name so as to represent someone else who is a close relative to a U.S. citizen
- Omitting critical information on international travel to ones country of origin
- Concealment of running for public office in another country
- Having a failed interpretation of ones name being read by port authority upon arrival to the United States
For those being investigated on behalf of their N-400 Application will be required to participate in an in-person interview with immigration officers. If the individual is determined to have intentionally committed fraud, then his or her case will be sent to the Justice Department. USCIS Director Francis Cissna told the Associated Press during the time of this official opening that they would not go after individuals who have minor errors on their applications, such as Latin American men and women who often have more than one surname.
Overall, such developments in the past few years bring into question the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 and hereby grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. The fact that one can now be denaturalized brings to mind that one can now be questioned on their citizenship even after they have take an oath of allegiance.
