Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, June 9, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

Ilhan Omar, call the office.

The Department of Justice announced on Monday it had filed denaturalization actions against 17 naturalized citizens accused of hiding serious crimes or fraud during their path to U.S. citizenship.

The crimes these individuals are accused of include child sexual abuse, narcotics trafficking, and large-scale financial fraud.

The Justice Department said nearly all of the individuals reportedly lied during the naturalization process, claiming that they did not commit any crimes the authorities were unaware of. Those claims were later found to be untrue or misleading. If confirmed, it would mean the individuals did not meet the statutory “good moral character” requirement for U.S. citizenship under federal law.

“Gaining U.S. citizenship is a privilege and under the steadfast leadership of President Trump, this Department of Justice maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the abuse of this process,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Nine of the 17 individuals are from the Caribbean and North America, including Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico. Two are from Colombia. One was from the former Yugoslavia. One each is from India, China, the Philippines, Somalia, and the Congo.

PJ Media’s David Manney noted: “Naturalization isn’t a participation trophy; applicants swear to tell the truth, answering questions about crimes, names, past conduct, and immigration history. When those answers are false, the citizenship built on them rests on sand. The DOJ’s new cases say the old wink-and-nod era is getting less comfortable.

“President Donald Trump’s team is trying to restore a basic rule: the United States gets to decide who enters, who stays, and who keeps citizenship after lying to obtain it.”

Pretty obvious but also revolutionary.

Which brings us to Omar.

In December, Trump said of the Minnesota Democrat congresswoman, who emigrated from Somalia: “Somalia, where you have a Congressman goes around telling everybody about our Constitution, yet she supposedly came into our country by marrying her brother. Well, if that’s true, she shouldn’t be a Congressman, and we should throw her the hell out of our country.”

Vice President JD Vance said last month that the Justice Department is looking into whether Omar committed immigration fraud tied to long-running allegations about her marriage history.

“You read the things about Ilhan Omar… who she married and whether she didn’t marry this person or that person,” Vance said. “It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the law.”

The comments follow a podcast interview in March, during which Vance told conservative commentator Benny Johnson that he had spoken with White House immigration advisor Stephen Miller about potential legal action against the congresswoman.

“We think Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America,” Vance said at the time.

PJ Media’s Manney noted:

The Omar question and the 17 DOJ cases aren’t identical. One involves filed denaturalized complaints, while the other involves public allegations, political pressure, and statements from the vice president that DOJ is looking at the issue.

Still, both point toward the same civic test; citizenship must mean more than a document the government is too embarrassed to revisit. If lies opened the door, the law has every right to walk back through it.

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  Raising the bar: DOJ’s 17 naturalization cases could restore U.S. control of immigration policy, WorldTribune.com