After The New York Times reported that the administration had identified 384 foreign-born Americans as targets for denaturalization, Fox News host Will Cain asked Vice President JD Vance in an interview, “Could the law lead you to a place where we’d see accountability in the form of denaturalization or deportation from people who come to this country, legally or illegally, and take advantage of America?” Vance responded that the administration would “absolutely” be looking at how to denaturalize citizens and claimed that under the Biden administration there was a “big blurring of the lines between illegal and legal immigration.”

According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, denaturalization has historically been rare. It is typically only used in cases in which there is proof that a person was naturalized when they were not eligible, for example if a person misrepresented or concealed information during the naturalization process that would disqualify them from U.S. citizenship. 

But in June 2025, the Trump Department of Justice released a policy memo expanding the administration’s “priorities for denaturalization.” The memo not only outlines new categories of immigrants who could be prioritized for denaturalization, but specifically warns that “the Civil Division retains the discretion to pursue cases outside of these categories as it determines appropriate.”

This renewed push is undoubtedly music to the ears of right-wing media figures who have been beating the denaturalization drum.

Nick Sortor — whom The Guardian describes as a right-wing influencer “who confronts protesters and Democrats” for social media — claimed that people long for the America of the 1920s and argued, “We can get it back through mass deportations, mass denaturalizations.” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh insisted that Americans need to “intensify our efforts to deport and denaturalize as many foreign-born residents as possible,” especially “foreigners who can't speak English or who cost taxpayers money.” Reacting to The New York Times article signaling the administration’s latest push for denaturalizations, podcaster Vince Coglianese declared, “This is cause for celebration. This is — we love this. We love it. I voted for this.”

Right-wing media figures have even called for elected officials to be denaturalized and deported. Streamer Zack Hoyt (known online as Asmongold), Harrison Smith (of the now-defunct Infowars), and podcasters Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon have all demanded that Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) citizenship be revoked. Bannon insisted, for example, that Omar “ought to be deported this morning” or “denaturalized, put in prison, and then deported later.” Smith, Bannon, and Walsh have also called for Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be denaturalized, with Walsh arguing that Mamdani should be “denaturalized, loaded on the first available aircraft, and deported to Uganda and banned from ever returning to the United States.” Coglianese advocated for Democratic Texas state Rep. Gene Wu to be “denaturalized and thrown the hell out of the country” because Wu argued that white nationalism has driven a recent wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Omar, Mamdani, and Wu are all U.S. citizens who immigrated to the United States as children.

Besides Omar and Mamdani, Muslim people as a whole have also been targeted for denaturalization by right-wing media figures. Loomer, who has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” previously argued that “Somalis and Muslims” who have immigrated to the United States “have no intent to assimilate in our society” and should be denaturalized. She singled out Mehdi Hasan, a journalist and Muslim immigrant from England, as someone who should have his citizenship revoked. Streamer Nick Fuentes went even further, calling for left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker — who was born in New Jersey and is therefore a birthright citizen who cannot be denaturalized — to be deported. “Take his citizenship, this anti-American piece of shit,” Fuentes demanded, “Take his citizenship, send him back to his beloved Third World.”

The Trump administration’s latest denaturalization efforts could have been plucked straight from these right-wing media figures’ immigration wish list. In fact, in January, Hoyt reacted to reporting that the Trump administration was looking to denaturalize Somali-American citizens who’d committed fraud by joking that Trump might be watching his stream. Hoyt said, “I'm glad that it's at least being discussed, OK? Because this is what I want. This is exactly what I want.”