2 Fil-Ams among 40 facing revoked US citizenship in major denaturalization drive

NEW YORK — Two Filipino-Americans are among 40 individuals facing government efforts to revoke their American citizenship over various offenses, in what the US Justice Department described as the largest denaturalization effort of President Donald Trump's administration.

The US Department of Justice announced on October 5 that it has filed denaturalization cases against the 40 individuals in various US district courts.

The defendants are accused of "serious offenses," including acting as an agent of a foreign government, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated sodomy against a man with special needs.

The complaints, filed between August 21 and October 2, 2026, represent the largest number of denaturalization complaints filed during a single period under the Trump administration.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the citizenship of a naturalized US citizen may be revoked and the certificate of naturalization canceled if citizenship was illegally obtained or acquired through the concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.

The US Department of Justice listed the 40 individuals facing denaturalization proceedings, one of whom is 47-year-old man from the Philippines.

A complaint was filed against him on September 15 in the US District Court for the Central District of California, seeking to revoke his citizenship "based on sexual abused of a child" that he allegedly failed to disclose during his naturalization proceedings.

The Justice Department said a jury found him guilty of two counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of fourteen years, in violation of California Penal Code Section 288(a). He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

"By concealing his crimes during the naturalization process," the Justice Department said, he became a US citizen in September 2005.

The other Filipino facing denaturalization is a 68-year-old man, whose case was filed in the Eastern District of California.

The department said the individual entered into "a fraudulent marriage to gain lawful permanent resident status and then used that fraudulent status and lied to immigration officials to obtain citizenship."

Of the 40 complaints filed, 11 involve individuals from Mexico; four each from Pakistan and China; two each from the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ghana; and one each from Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, India, Peru, Sierra Leone, Venezuela, United Kingdom, Cambodia, Haiti, and an unknown country.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche described the cases as "the largest denaturalization effort in modern history," saying the defendants had concealed critical information from the US government and were serious criminal offenders.

"Every single one of these individuals lied their way into U.S. citizenship," Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department's Civil Division said.

"This administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalization effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in U.S. citizenship. Our message is clear: the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalization process," Shumate added. — VDV, GMA News