DUE PROCESS NOT GUARANTEED
The process of denaturalization is the process of stripping someone of his or her naturalized United States citizenship. The was a process that used to center around trying to remove Nazis and other war criminals from the United States as they misrepresented who they were in order to gain American citizenship. While this form of citizenship stripping used to be rare, the Trump administration and its disdain for everything related to immigration has led to a sudden and exponential increase of denaturalization cases over the last couple of years. The question here is why denaturalization? Why not charge someone with an immigration crime of some sort that could lead to stripping someone of their citizenship instead? The answer to these questions lies within the actual due process someone gets if they are the subject of a denaturalization action. Denaturalization is a civil action; this means that denaturalization cases follow the same federal rules of civil procedure as any other lawsuit. Since naturalized citizens are not required to update their addresses with the federal government, the federal government can “properly” serve a denaturalization lawsuit simply by leaving it at the naturalized citizen’s last known address. If the naturalized citizen doesn’t show up to court, they lose their case and are denaturalized, even if they had no idea that they were the subject of a denaturalization action.
THE CASE OF UNITED STATES V BALJINDER SINGH
In late 2017, the federal government pursued a denaturalization case against a man named Baljinder Singh. The government alleged that this man was previously known as Davinder Singh, a man who was ordered to be deported back in 1992. They further alleged that Davinder Singh (using the name Baljinder Singh) married a United States citizen in 1996 and was approved for permanent resident status (green card) in 1998. One would assume that Baljinder Singh could come in and simply prove he’s not Davinder Singh and be on his way. But, since there is no statute of limitations for denaturalization cases like there is for other regular civil cases, the federal government was not only able to bring this case against him some 25 years later, but also serve him in the most minimally acceptable means according to the federal rules. In the case of Baljinder Singh, he did not appear to his denaturalization hearing, and was ordered denaturalized as a default victory to the federal government. Whether Baljinder is actually Davinder was never determined on any facts or evidentiary hearing of any kind. Naturalized citizenship gone just like that, without any real due process to a United States citizen.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?
If you are a naturalized citizen, this can affect you directly. Many tend to believe that once you are awarded United States citizenship through naturalization, you are afforded the same rights as United States citizens that got their citizenship through birthright. This is mostly but not entirely true. As the case of Baljinder Singh has shown us, your citizenship can not only be taken away, it can be done decades later without you even having any knowledge about it. Due process in denaturalization cases is given such a lack of importance that it is truly startling. After reading something like this, it is normal to have questions about the possibility of losing your naturalized citizenship. If you have questions about the potential of being denaturalized or are currently facing the prospect of being denaturalized by the United States government, then it is important to speak to an experienced denaturalization attorney as soon as possible to understand what your options are.
