GOP lawmakers would strip citizenship from terrorists after attacks tied to naturalized citizens

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., announced plans Thursday to introduce legislation allowing the U.S. to denaturalize and deport naturalized citizens who commit or support terrorism after a recent string of attacks involving immigrants who obtained citizenship.

On Thursday, Moore called out the “horrific pattern” of naturalized citizens committing acts of terror against the American people, saying it “must end.”

Moore announced he will be introducing a bill in Congress to denaturalize and deport any naturalized citizen who commits an act of terror, plots to unleash terror, joins a terrorist group or otherwise aids and abets terrorism.

Almost immediately, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., vowed to support the bill.

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This week, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, allegedly attempted to ram his vehicle into a Michigan synagogue filled with children and teachers. The same day at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, opened fire on a class of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students, killing Lt. Col. Brandon Shah.

Days before, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, the children of naturalized citizens from Turkey and Afghanistan, allegedly attempted to bomb an anti-Islam demonstration outside the mayor’s mansion in New York City. At the start of the month, Senegalese-born naturalized citizen Ndiaga Diagne killed three people and injured over a dozen in a shooting in Austin.

After this week’s attacks, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., renewed his call to pass another bill known as the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act. 

Schmitt is the Senate sponsor of the bill, which, if passed, would expand and clarify grounds for denaturalization if an individual participates in fraud against a government program, joins a terrorist organization or is convicted of an aggravated felony or espionage. 

The bill was introduced in the House in January by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., amid widespread outrage over the rampant Medicaid and children’s services fraud scandal, which heavily involved the Somali immigrant community.

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On Thursday, Schmitt posted on X that “after the SAVE America Act, we must pass the SCAM Act so we can denaturalize & deport those who are here to hurt Americans. We must denaturalize those who shouldn’t be here.”

Under current laws, the U.S. government may strip citizenship from a naturalized individual only in very limited circumstances, such as when it was obtained through fraud. There is also a very high standard of proof on the government to show that fraud occurred during the process of obtaining citizenship.

The SCAM Act, however, would expand the government’s ability to denaturalize, allowing it to revoke citizenship from a person who engages in terrorism, commits fraud, commits espionage or commits felonies within 10 years of becoming a citizen.

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In another post, Schmitt emphasized “we need to give the Trump admin the SCAM Act. Under current law, it is practically impossible to denaturalize these terrorists.”

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He said the SCAM Act “will allow the Trump admin to denaturalize and deport those who should never have been granted citizenship in the first place.”