Trump administration 'looking at' revoking citizenship of Somali Americans caught up in fraud scheme: Leavitt

Source: The Hill

Trump administration ‘looking at’ revoking citizenship of Somali Americans caught up in fraud scheme: Leavitt

by Max Rego - 12/31/25 9:56 AM ET

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the Trump administration is reviewing cases for denaturalization of U.S. citizens who came to the country from Somalia and were convicted of fraud in the Minnesota social services controversy.

Leavitt said on “Fox and Friends” that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department are “looking at” revoking the citizenship of people of Somali descent if they are convicted in the sweeping federal probe in Minnesota.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Hill on Wednesday that “under U.S. law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization.”

More than 240,000 people of Somali descent lived in the U.S. as of 2024, including more than 100,000 in Minnesota, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

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Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5667727-trump-administration-denaturalization-somali-minnesota/