DOJ seeks to strip Nevada resident’s citizenship in first denaturalization case in 20 years
The Justice Department filed a complaint to revoke a Nevada woman's naturalized citizenship after she used a false identity and failed to disclose a prior immigration benefit, marking the state's first denaturalization action in over two decades.
The Department of Justice lodged a complaint in June to strip a Nevada citizen of her naturalized status after uncovering that she had applied for citizenship using a false name and had not reported a 2010 immigration benefit request. This represents the first denaturalization proceeding in Nevada in more than twenty years and is part of a record 123 complaints filed across the country under the Trump administration. In September, Nevada's First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah announced a second case against a man who failed to disclose sexual-assault convictions on his 2018 application.
A 2025 DOJ memo broadened U.S. attorneys' authority to pursue denaturalization, adding offenses such as Medicaid fraud to the list of trigger crimes. Legal scholars and immigrant-rights advocates caution that the expanded discretion may be used for political purposes, especially given Chattah's history of aggressive immigration enforcement. While denaturalization remains a narrow legal remedy, the absence of a statute of limitations and limited access to appointed counsel could create uncertainty for naturalized residents.
Why it matters
It highlights how expanded federal powers can threaten the citizenship of naturalized residents, sparking legal and political debate.
In this story
