Trump Administration Seeks Quota to Denaturalize 200 U.S. Citizens Per Month

Is American citizenship truly permanent? The Trump administration says it wants to establish a quota to denaturalize up to 200 American citizens per month starting next year. The plan, reported on December 24, 2025, signals a significant escalation in immigration enforcement and is poised to ignite fierce legal and political battles over the rights of naturalized citizens.

A New Quota System for Stripping Citizenship

According to a report by Lilly Quiroz on NPR's Morning Edition, the administration's goal is to implement a monthly target for denaturalization cases in 2026. A quota of 200 cases per month could lead to as many as 2,400 individuals losing their citizenship annually. This would represent a dramatic increase compared to historical rates, transforming a rare legal process into a routine administrative objective.

Legal Challenges and Community Fears

Denaturalization is a legal process typically reserved for cases where citizenship was obtained through fraud or willful misrepresentation. However, establishing a numerical quota is seen by critics as a departure from case-by-case due process. Legal scholars and civil rights organizations argue that such a policy could be unconstitutional, potentially targeting specific immigrant communities and creating a second-class status for naturalized citizens.

The move is expected to create a chilling effect among immigrant communities, where the fear of having one's status reviewed and revoked could discourage civic participation. If the administration formally moves forward with this plan, it will almost certainly face immediate and robust legal challenges in federal courts.