OCA Condemns Administration's New Threat to AAPI Citizens

Washington, DC - OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates objects to the US Justice Department’s creation of a Denaturalization Office for the purpose of stripping U.S. citizens of their U.S. citizenship. Historically, the office of Immigration Litigation has completed denaturalization cases with a 95% success rate.  Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants are more likely than the overall foreign-born population to be naturalized, with 59% having received citizenship. Therefore, AAPI communities are the most vulnerable to denaturalization. Southeast Asian Americans especially are three to four times more likely to be deported on account of old convictions, rather than current ones.

The new office’s purpose is to revoke citizenship from those who unlawfully obtained it in the first place; clearly a duplicate of the functions of the Office of Immigration Litigation. Fundamentally, they are tasked with investigating fraud. However, fraud is a broad category; and may even extend to minor errors made on a citizenship form. For this reason, Justice Department lawyers fear that the new office could mount attacks on naturalized citizens who have committed only petty crimes. 

The creation of the Denaturalization Office fits into a broader anti-immigrant strategy by the Trump Administration. Stephen Miller, an aide who has driven much of the President’s immigration policy, has said that denaturalization could be used as a tactic in pushing back against immigration. While the Obama administration pursued denaturalization for those who had committed crimes, these cases have accelerated during the Trump administration. From 2017 to the present, case referrals to the Justice Department have increased by 600%. 

“With the Immigration Act of 1996, there already exists a double jeopardy for immigrants. The creation of a Denaturalization Office is another chilling message to immigrants: even if you become a United States citizen, there will always be the threat of deportation,” says OCA Executive Director Rita Pin Ahrens. “As a community, immigrants will continue to be second class citizens; the promise of security and safety with citizenship will never be fully extended to us.”

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).