Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) announced legislation to allow denaturalization and deportation of naturalized U.S. citizens who commit or support terrorism following a series of recent attacks linked to naturalized individuals. Moore described a “horrific pattern” of terror acts by naturalized citizens and emphasized the bill aims to address this issue.
Legislative Response to Recent Terror Attacks
The legislation would target naturalized citizens convicted of terrorism, plotting attacks, joining terrorist groups, or aiding terrorism. Representatives Brandon Gill (R-Texas) and Randy Fine (R-Fla.) have pledged support. The announcement follows multiple violent incidents involving naturalized U.S. citizens, including a March 12 attack at Old Dominion University by Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a citizen from Sierra Leone, who killed an ROTC instructor.
Other incidents include Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born naturalized citizen who attempted to ram a Michigan synagogue, and Ndiaga Diagne, a Senegalese-born naturalized citizen responsible for a shooting in Austin earlier that month.
Senate Efforts and Current Denaturalization Laws
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has renewed calls for the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act, legislation that would broaden grounds for denaturalization to include terrorism, espionage, aggravated felonies, and fraud within 10 years of citizenship. Schmitt highlighted the difficulty of denaturalizing terrorists under existing law, which mainly allows revocation of citizenship obtained through fraud and requires a high standard of proof.
The SCAM Act, sponsored in the House by Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), was introduced amid concerns about fraud involving immigrant communities. Schmitt stated the law would enable the administration to remove citizenship from individuals “who should never have been granted citizenship.”
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