Donald Trump could strip criminals of their U.S citizenship and deport them, say legal experts.
Why It Matters
Both Trump and the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, have recently said that he wants to deport U.S citizens who commit serious crimes.
If Trump succeeds in stripping criminals of their U.S citizenship and deporting them to El Salvador, it will mark a major change in U.S Department of Justice policy and powers.
Newsweek sought email comment from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department on Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) speaks in front of the U.S. Capitol on April 8, 2025 in Washington, DC about recent deportation cases.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
What To Know
Leavitt told reporters on April 8 that Trump is examining legal pathways to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where he already deported alleged members of a Venezuelan street gang.
“These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. These are violent, repeat offenders on American streets,” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing.
“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that. He’s not sure. We are not sure if there is,” Leavitt said.
“It’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly in the effort of transparency.”
On April 6, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he loves the idea of deporting U.S. citizens and that it would be an honor to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
On March 21, Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, that American citizens should be deported for damaging Tesla cars.
That came after protesters torched the vehicles because Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is director of Trump’s federal budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.
“Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!” Trump wrote.
What People Are Saying
Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, told Newsweek that the U.S can deport naturalized, foreign-born U.S citizens.
“Under existing law, the government can revoke the naturalization of citizens if they made misrepresentations or omissions during their naturalization process. There is a presumption that members of a communist party or a terrorist organization during the 5 years after naturalization misrepresented or omitted information.”
“Once their naturalization is revoked, they can be deported.”
He said there would first have to be court hearings.
Germain said that revoking the citizenship of someone born in the U.S is a far more difficult process.
“Revoking citizenship of natural born citizens, as opposed to naturalized citizens, is more uncertain,” he said.
“Trump’s new executive order denying citizenship to children born here of illegal aliens only applies prospectively [in the future] so far.”
“It is conceivable that he or Congress could attempt to make it retroactive to people born here before the new executive order, although it is far from clear what the courts would ultimately say about that,” he said.
New York attorney, Colleen Kerwick, told Newsweek that some U.S-born citizens were deported, such as the 2012 case of Lyttle v. U.S, in which a man born in the U.S was deported to Mexico.
However, the case was based on clerical mistakes by the immigration authorities, rather than a deliberate attempt to deport a U.S citizen.
What Happens Next
As Leavitt explained, Trump is seeking advice on whether naturalized citizens can be deported and will likely seek to have citizenships removed from gang members if that is legally possible.
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