US President Donald Trump has yet suggested deporting individuals born in the United States who commit crimes, describing it as the next job for his administration. Speaking at a migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday (July 1), Trump said, Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, you want to know the truth, so maybe thatll be the next job that well work on together.
Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of revoking birthright citizenship, a principle enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which grants citizenship to anyone born on American soil.
Separately, the Justice Department issued a sweeping directive to US attorneys to prioritise denaturalisation proceedings against naturalised citizens accused of crimes or national security threats.
The Department of Justice may institute civil proceedings to revoke a persons United States citizenship if an individual either illegally procured naturalization or procured naturalization by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation, wrote Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate in a June 11 memo.
Shumate instructed prosecutors to focus on individuals linked to terrorism, espionage, and serious human rights abuses: The benefits of civil denaturalization include the governments ability to revoke the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses, he stated.
He added that such cases would also prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport.
The memo detailed several priority categories for civil denaturalization, including: Individuals convicted of human trafficking, sex offenses, or violent crimes.
Those who committed financial fraud against the government, such as PPP loan fraud and Medicare scams.
Members or associates of gangs, drug cartels, or transnational criminal organizations.
Individuals engaged in fraud against private individuals or corporations.
Shumate emphasised that attorneys should take an aggressive approach: The Civil Division should prioritise and maximally pursue denaturalisation proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence, he wrote.
