Trump admin moves to strip citizenship from Haitian, Cubans

WASHINGTON, United States (CMC)—The Donald Trump administration says it has filed denaturalisation actions in multiple US district courts against one Haitian and two Cuban nationals among 40 individuals accused of “serious offences,” including acting as an agent for a foreign government, committing voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated sodomy against a special-needs man. Filed between August 21 and October 2, 2026, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said these complaints represent “the largest volume of complaints submitted in a single period under the Trump administration.” The DOJ said the Haitian national whose US citizenship would be stripped is Arnouse Merlien, while the Cuban nationals are Javier Marrero-Pando and Lazaro Trujillo Viton. The others whose US citizenship would be stripped are nationals of Colombia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Nepal, Peru, Ghana, Iran, China, Cambodia, Canada and Afghanistan.

The DOJ said that, under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalised US citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalisation cancelled, “if the naturalisation was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the announcement marks “the largest denaturalisation effort in modern history." “From an individual convicted of espionage to others convicted of sexual offences against minors, these defendants concealed critical facts from the US government and represent serious criminal offenders,” he said. Blanche said under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice will continue to employ the denaturalisation process “to maintain our national security and protect the American people”. Assistant Attorney General Brett A Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said every single one of these individuals lied their way into US citizenship.

“This administration will continue to pursue the largest denaturalisation effort in department history to restore trust and integrity in US citizenship. Our message is clear: the United States will not tolerate deception in the naturalisation process.” The DOJ said that, on September 28, it filed a complaint in the Southern District of Florida seeking the denaturalisation of Merlien, 48, a resi…