The Trump administration plans to ramp up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their citizenship, according to internal guidance obtained by The New York Times, marking an aggressive new phase in President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

根据《纽约时报》获得的内部指导文件，特朗普政府计划以更强力的手段剥夺一些归化美国人的公民身份，这标志着特朗普总统移民打击行动进入了一个激进的新阶段。

The guidance, issued on Tuesday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices, asks that they “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” in the 2026 fiscal year. If the cases are successful, it would represent a massive escalation of denaturalization in the modern era, experts said. By comparison, between 2017 and this year to date, there had been just over 120 cases filed, according to the Justice Department.

这份指导文件是周二向美国公民及移民服务局地方办公室下发的，要求这些机构在2026财年“每月向移民诉讼办公室提供100-200个剥夺公民身份案件”。专家表示，如果这些案件成功，将代表近现代以来剥夺公民身份行动的一次大规模升级。相比之下，司法部数据显示，从2017年到目前仅有逾120个案件被提交。

Under federal law, people may be denaturalized only if they committed fraud while applying for citizenship, or in a few other narrow circumstances. But the Trump administration has shown a zeal for using every tool at its disposal to target legal and illegal immigrants, leading activists to warn that such a campaign could sweep up people who had made honest mistakes on their citizenship paperwork and sow fear among law-abiding Americans.

根据联邦法律，只有在申请公民身份时犯下欺诈行为或在少数其他非常具体的情况下，才能剥夺公民身份。但特朗普政府表现出热衷于动用一切可用工具针对合法和非法移民，导致活动人士警告，这种行动可能波及那些在公民身份手续上犯下无心之失的人，并在守法美国人中播下恐惧。

The guidance comes as Mr. Trump has spent much of this year closing loopholes in the immigration system and throwing up roadblocks for people seeking to enter and stay in the country. The sweeping campaign, which has gone further than purging the country of unlawful migrants, has included blocks on asylum at the southern border, a pause on asylum applications inside the United States, and a ban on entry for travelers from predominantly African and Middle Eastern nations. Officials say their actions will make the country safer and preserve the country’s values

这一指导文件出台之际，特朗普今年大部分时间都在堵上移民系统的漏洞，并为寻求进入和留在美国的人设置障碍。这场全面行动已超出清除非法移民的范围，包括南部边境的庇护禁令、美国境内庇护申请的暂停，以及针对主要来自非洲和中东国家的旅行者的入境禁令。官员们表示，他们的行动将使国家更安全，并维护国家的价值观。

A targeted campaign to increase the number of American immigrants stripped of their citizenship represents an escalation of an already ambitious campaign.

针对性地加大剥夺美国移民公民身份的数量是对一项本已声势浩大的行动的升级。

“It’s no secret that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ war on fraud includes prioritizing those who’ve unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship — especially under the previous administration,” said Matthew J. Tragesser, a U.S.C.I.S. spokesman. “We will pursue denaturalization proceedings for those individuals lying or misrepresenting themselves during the naturalization process. We look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Justice to restore integrity to America’s immigration system.”

“美国公民及移民服务局的反欺诈战争优先针对那些非法获得美国公民身份的人——特别是在前一届政府时期——这已不是秘密，”局方发言人马修·J·特拉格瑟表示。“我们将对那些在归化过程中撒谎或虚假陈述的个人追究剥夺公民身份程序。我们期待继续与司法部合作，恢复美国移民系统的完整性。”

In interviews, some former agency officials expressed concern at the scale of the case goals for denaturalization pushed by U.S.C.I.S. leadership.

在采访中，一些前机构官员对公民及移民服务局领导层为剥夺公民身份行动设定的规模目标表示担忧。

“Imposing arbitrary numerical targets on denaturalization cases risks politicizing citizenship revocation,” said Sarah Pierce, a former U.S.C.I.S. official. “And requiring monthly quotas that are 10 times higher than the total annual number of denaturalizations in recent years turns a serious and rare tool into a blunt instrument and fuels unnecessary fear and uncertainty for the millions of naturalized Americans.”

“对剥夺公民身份案件施加任意的数字目标存在将公民身份撤销这一行动政治化的风险，”前服务局官员萨拉·皮尔斯表示。“要求每月配额达到近年来年度剥夺公民身份总数的10倍，这将把一个严厉且鲜少使用的工具变成钝器，并在数以百万计归化美国人中制造不必要的恐惧和不确定性。”

Proponents of stricter immigration laws said it was necessary to more aggressively root out people who had been improperly granted citizenship.

支持更严格移民法的倡导者表示，有必要更积极地清除那些不当获得公民身份的人。

“I don’t think we’re anywhere close to denaturalizing too many people,” said Mark Krikorian, the head of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors restrictive immigration policies. Mr. Krikorian said that the country was “so far from denaturalizing” enough people that such an effort would not pull in people who should not be targeted.

“我认为我们远未达到剥夺太多人公民身份的地步，”持限制性移民政策的移民研究中心负责人马克·克里科里安表示。克里科里安说，国家“远未剥夺足够多人的公民身份”，这种努力不会波及那些不应被针对的人。

There are about 26 million naturalized Americans in the country, according to the Census Bureau. More than 800,000 new citizens were sworn in last year, most of whom were born in Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic or Vietnam, U.S.C.I.S. statistics show. Most people stripped of their citizenship revert to being legal permanent residents.

根据人口普查局数据，美国约有2600万归化公民。根据美国公民及移民服务局统计，去年有超过80万新公民宣誓入籍，其中大多数出生在墨西哥、印度、菲律宾、多米尼加共和国或越南。大多数被剥夺公民身份的人会恢复为合法永久居民。

The new guidance on Tuesday was part of a document laying out U.S.C.I.S. priorities for the 2026 fiscal year, which began in October. Listed alongside such goals as “provide employee feedback opportunities” and “strengthen management of high-risk cases” was “pursue denaturalization.”

周二的新指导文件是阐述2026财年美国公民及移民服务局优先事项的文件的一部分，该财年开始于10月。与“提供员工反馈机会”和“加强高风险案件管理”等目标并列的是“追究剥夺公民身份”。

The Justice Department previously also said it would make denaturalization a priority this year. In a memo distributed in the summer, officials laid out their approach, saying they would target individuals in an array of categories beyond committing fraud in obtaining citizenship. Categories of eligible people include gang members, those who committed financial fraud, individuals connected to drug cartels and violent criminals, according to the department.

司法部此前也表示将在今年将剥夺公民身份作为优先事项。在夏季分发的一份备忘录中，官员们概述了他们的方法，表示将针对各种情况，不仅限于使用欺诈手段获取公民身份。司法部称这其中包括帮派成员、有金融欺诈行为的人、与贩毒集团有关联的个人以及暴力罪犯等。

“The civil division shall prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence,” the agency wrote in June.

“民事部门应在法律允许并有证据支持的所有案件中优先并最大限度地追究剥夺公民身份程序，”该机构在6月写道。

根据联邦法律，只有在申请公民身份时犯下欺诈行为或在少数其他非常具体的情况下，才能剥夺某人的公民身份。

U.S.C.I.S. is a key player in the process of denaturalization. The agency refers cases to the Justice Department, which must go through a federal court to strip someone of their citizenship. The process can occur either through a civil or a criminal proceeding. During a civil case, government lawyers must have “unequivocal evidence” that someone obtained citizenship illegally or hid a material fact during the process.

美国公民及移民服务局是剥夺公民身份过程中的关键参与者。该机构将案件转交司法部，后者必须通过联邦法院剥夺某人的公民身份。这一过程可以通过民事或刑事程序进行。在民事案件中，政府律师必须有“明确证据”证明某人非法获得公民身份，或在过程中隐瞒了重大事实。

Because the government must go through a challenging court process, denaturalization cases have been rare since the 1990s. A Bloomberg Law analysis found that denaturalization cases brought by the government since then peaked in 2018, when 90 criminal and civil cases were filed. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that citizenship and naturalization are too precious and fundamental to our democracy for the government to take it away on their whim. Instead of wasting resources digging through Americans’ files, U.S.C.I.S. should do its job of processing applications, as Congress mandated,” said Amanda Baran, a former senior U.S.C.I.S. official in the Biden administration.

因为政府必须经过艰难的法院程序，自1990年代以来剥夺公民身份案件一直罕见。彭博法律的一项分析发现，政府提起的剥夺公民身份案件在2018年达到峰值，当时提起了90个刑事和民事案件。“最高法院反复表示，公民身份和归化对我们的民主太过宝贵和根本，政府不能随心所欲地剥夺。移民及公民服务局不应浪费资源搜索美国人的档案，而应履行国会授权的处理申请职责，”拜登政府时期的前高级美国公民及移民服务局官员阿曼达·巴兰表示。

Mr. Trump stepped up denaturalizations in his first term as well. In one widely publicized case, a New Jersey man born in India, Baljinder Singh, was stripped of his citizenship after the Justice Department found that he had arrived in the country without travel documents or proof of identity and that he had used a different name.

特朗普在其第一任期内也加强了剥夺公民身份行动。在一个广受关注的案件中，新泽西一名出生于印度的男子巴尔金德·辛格在司法部发现他无旅行文件或身份证明入境并使用不同姓名后，被剥夺公民身份。

This year, the Justice Department has brought 13 denaturalization cases and won eight of them, according to Chad Gilmartin, an agency spokesman. Mr. Gilmartin said in a social media post earlier this year that there had been over 100 cases filed to the courts during the first Trump administration, compared with 24 during the Biden administration. In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the government must prove not only that someone had lied during the citizenship application process but that the lie had an impact on the underlying citizenship claim.

根据司法部发言人查德·吉尔马丁称，今年该部已提起13起剥夺公民身份案件，并胜诉八起。吉尔马丁今年早些时候在社交媒体上发帖表示，第一届特朗普政府期间向法院提起超过100个案件，而拜登政府期间为24个。2017年，最高法院裁定政府不仅必须证明某人在公民身份申请过程中撒谎，而且该谎言必须对潜在公民身份主张产生影响。

Experts said that despite the ramp-up in referrals, the process to actually denaturalize someone would likely remain quite difficult, raising questions on whether the government will actually be able to get many cases through.

专家表示，尽管提交案件增加，但实际剥夺某人公民身份的过程可能仍相当困难，这引发了政府是否真正能够让许多案件得以推进的疑问。

Still, some had concerns about what the guidance could portend.

尽管如此，一些人仍对这一指导文件可能预示的内容表示担忧。

“My fear would be that as we have seen in the arrest and removal context when D.H.S. employees are given arbitrary targets what happens is people who shouldn’t be swept up, get swept up and that you’re going to see that happening to people in this context as well,” said Margy O’Herron, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy organization. “That could incite fear and terror amongst naturalized citizens.”

“我的担忧是，正如我们在逮捕和驱逐中看到的那样，当国土安全部员工被赋予任意目标时，会发生不应被波及的人被波及的情况，这种情况也会发生在这些人身上，”无党派法律和政策组织布伦南中心高级研究员玛吉·奥赫伦表示。“这可能会在归化公民中引发恐惧和恐怖。”