Message #48763

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Trump Reignites O'Donnell Feud With Fresh Threat!

President Donald Trump is threatening to strip people of their U.S. citizenship, including political foes, as his administration works to deport people from the country in mass numbers. On July 12, he said he was considering revoking comedian Rosie O'Donnell of her constitutional citizenship right — something no president can do.

READ MORE: Trump says he's considering 'taking away' comedian Rosie O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship

Trump has also threatened to rescind former White House adviser Elon Musk and New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's citizenship. Musk and Mamdani were born outside of the country and received U.S. citizenship through a legal process. The process of stripping them of citizenship is known as denaturalization.

Unlike O'Donnell, who was born in the U.S., the government can strip naturalized citizens of their citizenship under limited circumstances and after a legal process.

The Trump administration wants to pursue more of these cases, though political differences with Musk or Mamdani would not be grounds for denaturalization. Trump's Justice Department issued a June memo directing attorneys to prioritize denaturalization cases. The memo's list of priority categories included people who pose national security concerns and gang members and a catchall category for "any other cases referred to the Civil Division that the Division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue."

The memo does not apply to citizens born in the U.S. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that under the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, they may only lose their citizenship by voluntarily relinquishing it.

"Once you have American citizenship, you have a constitutional entitlement to it," said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor. "If you like your American citizenship, you can keep your American citizenship — and that's with the Supreme Court's guarantee."

It's not just Rosie O'Donnell. Trump cannot revoke the citizenship of a person born in the U.S.

PBS News