WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has filed civil actions seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of 25 naturalized Americans, including seven people from Africa, in what federal officials are calling the largest denaturalization effort of its kind.
The cases, filed in recent weeks in federal courts across the country, include three naturalized citizens from Nigeria, two from Ghana and one each from Liberia and Cameroon.
One of the cases was filed in Minnesota against Enos Fong Korti, a 51-year-old Liberian-born naturalized citizen whom the government accuses of concealing his marital status during the immigration process and later making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Korti immigrated to the United States as the unmarried child of a U.S. citizen but was actually married at the time, which would have made him ineligible to immigrate under that category. The government alleges he lied about his marital status during the visa process and later falsely stated during naturalization that he had never lied to U.S. officials.
The Justice Department filed the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
The six other African-born defendants are Jonathan Omorogieva Obasohan, 56, of Nigeria; Yetunde Folake Olaniyi, 56, of Nigeria; Esther Quayle, 50, of Ghana; Eddie Jones Appah, 66 or 67, of Ghana; Vivian Chike Obichere, 72, of Nigeria; and Francois Nguessi Dame, 65, of Cameroon.
The allegations against them vary widely.
Federal prosecutors accuse Obasohan of obtaining citizenship under a false identity after previously being ordered deported under another name. Olaniyi is accused of assuming another person’s identity and entering into a sham marriage after being ordered removed from the United States.
Quayle obtained permanent residency through her husband, who the government says had stolen the identity of a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors allege she later naturalized without disclosing his true identity and citizenship.
Appah is accused of failing to disclose that he had previously entered the United States and been deported under another identity.
Obichere, who naturalized in 2013, is accused of making false statements during her naturalization proceedings, including concealing that she had previously applied for and used a U.S. passport bearing another person’s name and identifying information. She later pleaded guilty to passport-related offenses.
Dame, the Cameroon-born defendant, is accused of sexually abusing his minor stepdaughter for years, including during the period before he naturalized in 2014, and failing to disclose the conduct during the naturalization process. He was later convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor.
Trump administration expands denaturalization cases
USCIS said Tuesday that the 25 complaints filed since July represent the largest denaturalization effort yet. The agency said the Justice Department has filed 123 civil denaturalization complaints since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025, which it described as the most in recorded history.
The latest cases come amid growing attention to the Trump administration’s use of denaturalization, the legal process through which the government can seek to revoke citizenship from someone who became a U.S. citizen through naturalization.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citizenship can be revoked if a federal court determines that naturalization was illegally obtained, or was obtained through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.
The latest cases do not mean the 25 individuals have lost their U.S. citizenship. The Justice Department has filed civil complaints asking federal courts to revoke their citizenship, and the allegations have not yet been adjudicated.
USCIS said the cases involve allegations ranging from immigration and identity fraud to violent crimes and sexual abuse. In several cases, the government alleges that defendants committed crimes or other disqualifying conduct before becoming citizens and concealed that information during the naturalization process.
The 25 defendants come from countries including Pakistan, Moldova, India, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Haiti, El Salvador, Peru and others.
The administration’s expanding use of denaturalization has drawn national attention and raised questions about how aggressively the government intends to scrutinize naturalized Americans. PBS News Hour on Thursday examined the Justice Department’s increased use of the rarely used legal process to revoke citizenship.
The Justice Department maintains that its efforts are aimed at people who were not legally entitled to naturalize or who obtained citizenship by concealing material facts or making false statements.
USCIS emphasized that the government’s allegations in the 25 newly filed complaints have not been proven in court.
“The claims made in the complaints are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability,” the agency said.
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