The Trump administration‘s sweeping proposals for deporting illegal immigrants and limiting U.S. citizenship would affect a significant number of people, if the actions can survive legal challenges.
Similar to much of President Donald Trump’s agenda, his deportation and citizenship efforts have been thwarted by various court challenges. These challenges have complicated who would lose legal status if and when the orders take effect.
Recommended Stories
- Mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia details beatings and psychological torture in Salvadoran prison
- 'This trial was botched': New York prosecutors face heat over Diddy failures
- DOJ considers criminal charges for state officials over election integrity policies: 'No option off the table'
Birthright citizenship
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office that redefined the interpretation of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment to no longer include children born on U.S. soil in certain situations.
There are two scenarios in which a child would no longer automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon birth in the United States. One is if the mother is “unlawfully present” in the country and the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident at the time of the birth. Or, two, if the mother is in the country legally but only on a temporary basis, such as with a visa, and the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident at the time of birth.
Federal agencies have not detailed exactly how they would implement the order, as courts have blocked the administration from developing those plans. With the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday tossing the universal injunctions upon which multiple judges had relied to pause the birthright citizenship order, the Trump administration is permitted to begin formulating those plans.
The executive order, issued on Jan. 20, 2025, stated that it would apply to babies born in the U.S. “after 30 days from the date of this order. ” The Supreme Court’s ruling on June 27, 2025, partially stayed injunctions by lower courts, and the Department of Justice has said it would not seek to enforce the order until July 27, 2025.
DOJ lawyers have said in federal court hearings that the president’s order to reshape birthright citizenship would not retroactively strip citizenship from babies born in the U.S. to noncitizen parents, but it would not grant citizenship to those babies moving forward.
The only people at risk of losing citizenship status are unborn babies still in the womb of certain parents, but as legal citizenship is not granted until a baby is born, the unborn children would technically not lose any status they previously had, even if they were conceived before the order takes effect.
DOJ denaturalization efforts
The DOJ outlined in a June 11 memo to prosecutors a plan to consider denaturalization in some circumstances for immigrants who gained U.S. citizenship, including when those immigrants are convicted of offenses related to terrorism, war crimes, human trafficking, financial fraud, and gang activity.
The memo outlined that the DOJ “may institute civil proceedings to revoke a person’s United States
citizenship if an individual either ‘illegally procured’ naturalization or procured naturalization
by ‘concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.’”
Seeking denaturalization is not unprecedented, as former presidential administrations have sought and successfully denaturalized criminals, but the rate has increased under Trump’s terms. Last month, the Trump administration secured the denaturalization of Elliott Duke, a British national convicted in 2014 of distributing child sexual abuse material after having obtained citizenship in 2013. The DOJ found he falsely claimed on his citizenship application that he had never committed a crime.
People who receive citizenship in the U.S. from birth cannot be denaturalized. Under the DOJ’s guidance, any naturalized citizen could be subject to denaturalization, but the memo outlined that prosecutors should “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all
cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”
Student visa holders
The Trump administration has also cracked down on student visa holders as part of its efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses.
The White House has promised to revoke the visas and deport “Hamas sympathizers,” with a fact sheet saying that resident aliens who joined “pro-jihadist protests” have been put on notice.
The Trump administration has gone after several students at multiple universities over their alleged antisemitic views and actions, with varying degrees of success in removing them.
As part of vetting for visa applicants, the State Department announced last week that it would require student and exchange visitor applicants in some nonimmigrant classifications to make their social media profiles public. The decision expands on the Trump administration’s efforts to find and revoke visas or applications of those who have espoused antisemitism.
Individuals who could be subject to this part of Trump’s agenda are student visa holders, specifically those who have participated in violent and unruly anti-Israel protests on campus. Those who have expressed support for or been associated with Hamas or terrorist groups are also at risk of losing their student visas.