Second Class Citizens: The Assailment of Naturalized Citizens Under the Trump Administration
By Bharti Malkani
Tucked in a drawer amongst birth certificates, Social Security cards and other important documents, is a sheaf of paper bearing the seal of the Department of Justice. Affixed to it is a passport-sized photo of me that was taken in my elementary school library on photo day. I am wearing braids and glasses that are much too big for me and sporting a crooked smile. The certificate notes my “dimple left cheek” as a distinguishing mark and it was issued to me at a naturalization ceremony during which I become an American citizen. I was a tween back then and, as a minor, I was automatically granted citizenship when my father was naturalized.
It was amazing to see the incredible diversity of all those assembled to take the oath that day at the downtown Brooklyn courthouse. So many cultures and races were represented there and it was a source of pride and joy to become a part of the melting pot that is America.
From the outset, Donald Trump has demonized this version of America, one that is welcoming of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Painting immigrants from Mexico as “rapists and murderers, to promising a wall at the southern border to stop illegal entry was central to his 2016 campaign. He continues to claim to his supporters that Mexico will pay for that wall. After his inauguration, Mr. Trump instituted cruel, reckless, and discriminatory policies like the Muslim Ban and family separations to deter migration from Central America, and furthered that fear of immigrants by claiming they were coming in caravans.
Lost in the outrage surrounding these egregious actions is the Trump administration’s coordinated assault on legal immigration and denaturalization of American citizens. According to the ACLU, denaturalization, which is generally reserved for war criminals and the like, averaged 11 per year from 1990 to 2017. But after Trump took office, referrals for prosecution to the Department of Justice jumped, and last year the government announced it will be investigating the files of 700,000 naturalized citizens.
The administration has opened a Denaturalization Section armed with a $207 million budget and staffed with over 300 special agents that are tasked with investigating those who may have fraudulently obtained citizenship by lying or omitting information on their applications. Among the first people to be brought to trial under Operation Janus and Operation Second Look were Parvez Mansoor Khan, a 62 year old Pakistani immigrant who has been living In Florida as a naturalized citizen since 2006, and Baljinder Singh, an immigrant from India who has lived in the US for 26 years and for 12 of those years as a naturalized citizen.
Both men are married to American women, have not committed any crimes, and have been living as productive citizens for many years. While Mr. Khan’s case is still unresolved, Mr. Singh has already been denaturalized. Prior administrations would have considered whether these individuals posed any security risk and would not likely have referred such cases for denaturalization. Under this administration, however, naturalized citizens have to live in uncertainty, fearing that the citizenship they worked so hard to obtain might be stripped from them due to errors, even if they are small or highly technical in nature.
The Trump administration is seizing upon minor and inadvertent errors and zealously prosecuting these kinds of cases, at considerable taxpayer expense. By doing so, it conveys the chilling message to the more than 20 million naturalized citizens in this country that their Certificates of Citizenship can be challenged and stripped from them at will. Furthermore, the ACLU writes that “these denaturalization efforts have made lawful permanent residents scared to pursue citizenship and fully engage civically.” Indeed, this is likely President Trump’s desired outcome: to further marginalize immigrant communities and suppress their votes. If fewer permanent residents choose to become citizens, they will never gain the right to vote; and if citizens are denaturalized, they too will lose their right to vote. These kinds of subversive policies denigrate the inviolability of American citizenship, and are antithetical to this country’s most cherished traditions.
There is something very unique about the process of naturalization; it is a deliberative process and requires that we give up allegiance to our places of birth and fully embrace America. In doing so, we expect the same allegiance from our adopted home where we put down roots, grow our families and embed ourselves into the fabric of society. Knowing that the lives and livelihoods of so many of our fellow Americans are being upended, and that the government is actively seeking to strip away citizenship in numbers that would have been unthinkable years ago, is horrifying.
Vice President Joe Biden understands that this country was built by immigrants and he will roll back the heartless and capricious policies implemented by the Trump administration. I trust him and Sen. Kamala Harris to tackle immigration reform with common-sense and compassion. This year, I will be using the right granted to me by my American citizenship to proudly vote for Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.
