Donald Trump won the presidency in part on promises to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records. But his earliest executive orders—trying to undo birthright citizenship, suspending critical refugee programs—made clear he wants to attack legal immigrants, too. In our new series, Who Gets to Be American This Week?, we’ll track the Trump administration’s attempts to exclude an ever-growing number of people from the American experiment. 

As if the past few weeks of immigration-related breaking news weren’t bleak enough, this week President Donald Trump said he’d like to imprison U.S. citizens outside of the country. The idea involves relying upon El Salvador yet again, this administration’s partner in lawless deportations. And speaking of U.S. citizens, Immigration and Customs Enforcement lured a pro-Palestinian activist from Columbia University to an immigration office for a citizenship interview—he’s held a green card for 10 years—only to arrest him upon arrival.

Here’s the immigration news we’re keeping an eye on this week.

Trump Is Considering Denaturalizing U.S. Citizens

Among the slew of executive orders Trump signed on Inauguration Day, he included a reference to the Department of Justice’s Denaturalization Section. Established during his first term in the White House, it was meant to target people who “illegally obtained naturalization.” It seems like Trump wants to take that even further—on Monday, he told reporters he would love to deport “homegrown criminals” to El Salvador, which the U.S. is paying $6 million for one year to imprison immigrants it deports. (This is most likely illegal, though there are ways for Trump to try to get around that.)

Meanwhile unnamed sources “familiar with the matter” told Rolling Stone that the Trump administration has been discussing how they could “denaturalize American citizens and deport them to other countries, including El Salvador,” where hundreds of migrants were recently deported and imprisoned without due process under allegations that they are members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff to the president, said back in 2023 that under a second Trump administration, denaturalization efforts would be “turbocharged.”

The federal government has to meet a high burden of proof when attempting to denaturalize a citizen, plus it can only proceed by a judicial order. And if the government’s denaturalization attempt were to succeed, that person returns to the immigration status they had before becoming a citizen, and they don’t necessarily face deportation, so long as that status is lawful.

Under the law, the federal government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that “the citizen was not qualified for naturalization at the time it was mistakenly granted,” according to the National Immigration Project. Naturalization can be revoked if a person willfully misrepresented themselves, committed treason, or enlisted in a foreign military which then attacked the U.S.

Over the past decade, the U.S. added over 7.9 million naturalized citizens. Of those who became citizens during fiscal year 2024, it took on average seven and half years for a legal permanent resident to become naturalized. The process demands that applicants pass a language test where they must read, write, and speak ordinary English words, and a civics test that covers U.S. history and government.

The Legal Battle Over Abrego Garcia Ramps Up

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Last week, the Supreme Court issued a mixed decision on the wrongful deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was living legally in the U.S. under protected status. The justices ruled that the U.S. government is required to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., but lower district courts must give “deference” to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.

Now the matter is back with Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis, and the Department of Justice is arguing that facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return means that the U.S. government merely has to “remove any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede” his “ability to return here.” During a Tuesday hearing, Xinis said that interpretation is flawed. “When a wrongfully removed individual [is outside U.S. borders] it’s not so cut-and-dried that all you have to do is remove obstacles domestically.”

Despite the DOJ previously admitting that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error,” they’re now saying that even if he was brought back to the U.S., Homeland Security would either “remove him to a third country or terminate his withholding of removal,” citing his alleged membership to the Salvadoran gang MS-13 (though the government has not charged him with any crimes). In response, Xinis suggested the DOJ was “grandstanding,” adding that each day that Abrego Garcia remains in an El Salvador prison “is a day of further irreparable harm.”

Xinis ordered both sides to strap in for “two weeks of intensive discovery,” and she said she intends to move fast. “Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments. I’m usually pretty good about that … not this time,” Xinis said.

During El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele’s visit to the Oval Office, Attorney General Pam Bondi said it’s “up to El Salvador” to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Bukele declared that he would not be doing that. Meanwhile, House Democrats are requesting to visit Abrego Garcia in the maximum security prison he’s currently being held in—and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday in an attempt to press for his release.

Separately, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg warned the Trump administration he’s considering holding them in contempt of court for defying his restraining order from March. Boasberg ordered any deportation flights for Venezuelan migrants, including Abrego Garcia, to be immediately stopped, yet federal officials proceeded to deport them anyway, with at least three planes taking the migrants to El Salvador’s megaprison. Boasberg determined there’s “probable cause” that the government willfully disregarded his order and is offering one last opportunity to “purge such contempt” by bringing the wrongfully detained men back into U.S. custody.

Another Palestinian Student Activist Was Detained 

Mohsen Mahdawi is a Columbia University student who has legal permanent residency, and after waiting 10 years, he was called in for an interview that would have secured U.S. citizenship. Instead, ICE agents ambushed him as soon as he arrived.

Mahdawi was arrested in Vermont, where his attorney requested a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from transferring Mahdawi somewhere else—namely Louisiana, the Trump administration’s venue of choice because of its conservative judiciary. U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III granted the request.

Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the U.S. in 2014. While pursuing a degree at Columbia, Mahdawi was active in protesting against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. In 2023, he was featured in a 60 Minutes segment, which, according to the Intercept, drew the attention of Zionist groups who attacked him online and surveilled him. Mahdawi feared arrest after Trump signed an executive order targeting participants in the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last year, and even asked Columbia to help him secure safer housing. Mahdawi told the Intercept that the university did not respond to his requests.

Mahdawi’s targeting is reminiscent of that of Mahmoud Khalil, another pro-Palestine protester from Columbia. In Khalil’s case, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is invoking a provision within the Immigration and Nationality Act to deport individuals he has “reasonable grounds” to believe would negatively impact U.S. foreign policy.

Shirin Ali Read More

Immigration Judge Rules Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported

After Mahmoud Khalil was arrested for protesting for Palestinians at Columbia last year and sent to a Louisiana detention center, an immigration judge ruled last Friday that the U.S. government could deport him. Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans determined that the DOJ “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”

Comans was referring to a memo Secretary of State Marco Rubio submitted in which he wrote Khalil was considered a threat who would create a “hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.” Rubio’s memo made no mention of criminal conduct, and Khalil has not been charged with any crimes. The secretary can make this claim under a rarely used provision within the Immigration and Nationality Act where he can “personally determine” whether a person should remain in the country.

This is by no means the end of the road for Khalil’s case, as his attorney will appeal Comans’ ruling with the Board of Immigration Appeals. At the same time, Khalil has a separate lawsuit in New Jersey that’s challenging the legality of his detention under the First Amendment. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled he can retain Khalil’s case because his habeas petition was filed while he was still being detained in New Jersey, before he was transferred to Louisiana.

Homeland Security Sent Emails Telling People to Self-Deport 

The Department of Homeland Security sent out a blanket email to immigrants living in the U.S. under temporary legal status that said their parole would be revoked just seven days from the date of the notice.

The emails were light on details, failing to specify any exceptions. Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner for public affairs for Customs and Border Protection, told Wired that people from Ukraine and Afghanistan who were given temporary legal status under certain programs under the Biden administration are excluded from the emails. However, Nicole Micheroni, an immigration attorney from Massachusetts, said on Bluesky that she also received one of the emails despite being born in the U.S. Beckham said these notices were sent out based on addresses the agency had on file, which is likely why at least one was sent out in error. Micheroni told Wired that often immigrants don’t have email addresses and use their attorney’s contact information when filling out legal documents.

These mass emails were sent just days after the Department of Government Efficiency claimed that CBP had identified 6,300 individuals who were paroled in the U.S. but were also on the FBI’s terrorist watch list or had criminal records. “These paroles have since been terminated with immediate effect,” the agency announced on X. Again, it was unclear specifically who this applied to and if these individuals were notified.

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