Justice Department moves to strip citizenship from 40 naturalized Americans accused of fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed civil denaturalization complaints against 40 naturalized citizens, marking the largest such effort in modern history. Filed between August 21 and October 2, 2026, under the Trump administration, the actions target individuals accused of concealing serious crimes—such as child sexual abuse, money laundering, and espionage—or using fraudulent marriages and stolen identities to secure citizenship. The defendants, primarily from Mexico and other nations, face potential revocation of their citizenship under the Immigration and Nationality Act if the government establishes its claims in federal court.

Scope of the current denaturalization filings

• ▪The 40 individuals targeted for denaturalization in the DOJ's October 5 announcement range in age from 26 to 76 and originate from multiple countries, with the largest group of 11 individuals coming from Mexico
• ▪The United States Department of Justice filed denaturalization complaints in multiple U.S. district courts against 40 naturalized citizens between August 21 and October 2, 2026.
• ▪Attorney General Todd Blanche described the 40 filings submitted between Aug. 21 and Oct. 2, 2026 as the largest denaturalization effort in modern history, representing the largest volume of complaints submitted in a single period under the Trump administration

Increase in denaturalization cases

• ▪The Department of Justice has expanded denaturalization efforts in 2026, having previously announced actions against 10 naturalized citizens in July and another 25 cases in August.
• ▪Data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse indicates that denaturalizations have risen significantly from an average of 11 cases per year between 1990 and 2017.

Legal grounds and process for denaturalization

• ▪The Department of Justice seeks denaturalization orders under the Immigration and Nationality Act on the grounds that the defendants' criminal acts and false testimonies rendered them unable to demonstrate good moral character.
• ▪The Department of Justice's denaturalization actions are civil complaints, meaning the allegations of fraud or concealment must be established in court before any individual's citizenship is officially revoked.
• ▪Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized citizen's U.S. citizenship may be revoked if it was illegally procured or obtained through the concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.

Allegations of Immigration and identity fraud

• ▪Syed Mashood Ul Haque, a 66-year-old Pakistani national, is accused of using the fraudulent identity 'Mashud Ahmad' to apply for asylum and evade deportation before naturalizing under his current identity.
• ▪Gume Roberto Garza, a 59-year-old Mexican national, allegedly used the stolen identity of a U.S. citizen to obtain a driver's license, conceal his criminal history, and naturalize in 2010.
• ▪Ahmed Khan, a 73-year-old Pakistani national, allegedly obtained permanent residency and citizenship through marriage fraud by marrying a U.S. citizen using a fraudulent death certificate for his still-living Pakistani wife.
• ▪The Department of Justice alleges the targeted individuals named in its October 5 denaturalization complaints committed various forms of immigration fraud, including marriage fraud, identity theft, and failing to disclose prior deportation or removal proceedings

Allegations of concealing sexual crimes

• ▪Iain Lumsden, a 50-year-old United Kingdom national, is accused of falsely representing during his naturalization process that he had not committed crimes, despite later pleading guilty to transportation of child pornography.
• ▪Jose Ramiro Montiel Carrasco, a 57-year-old Mexican national, is accused of failing to disclose that he sexually abused a minor and committed incest before his naturalization.

Allegations of concealing financial crimes

• ▪Andrew Coldicutt, a Canadian-born national, is accused of misrepresenting his criminal history regarding prior involvement in securities fraud schemes when applying for U.S. citizenship.
• ▪Yusmary Shirley Duran Mejia, a 47-year-old Colombian national residing in Hialeah, Florida, faces denaturalization after admitting to involvement in a money laundering conspiracy before she became a citizen in 2018.

Serious criminal allegations

• ▪The Department of Justice accused the 40 individuals named in its October 5 denaturalization filings of concealing serious criminal histories, including child sexual abuse, voluntary manslaughter, espionage, and money laundering, during their naturalization proceedings
• ▪The Department of Justice also accused individuals among the 40 named in its Oct. 5 denaturalization filings of serious offenses including aggravated sodomy against a special-needs man

Debatable claims

• ▪Denaturalizing individuals for fraud undermines the security of all naturalized citizens
• ▪The Justice Department's expanded denaturalization campaign is justified
• ▪The U.S. government should restrict denaturalization to national security threats