Deportation is the removal of a person from a country due to violations of immigration laws. For citizens, deportation is an extremely rare event that can only happen under very specific circumstances. The deportation process for citizens has additional protections and is handled differently than for non-citizens. This article will examine when deportation may apply to U.S. citizens, the additional protections for citizens against deportation, and the process involved.
Limited circumstances for deporting citizens
U.S. citizens cannot be deported from the United States under normal circumstances. The protections against deportation for citizens are derived from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and the state where they reside. Since citizens have a legal right to remain in the country, the government cannot forcibly remove them unless they voluntarily relinquish their citizenship.
There are only two scenarios in which a U.S. citizen may potentially face deportation or exclusion from the United States:
- The person becomes subject to deportation based on acts committed before obtaining citizenship
- The person’s citizenship was obtained fraudulently
Even in these cases, deportation of a citizen is still an extremely complex process and requires the government to provide clear and convincing evidence that deportation is justified.
Prior Acts
If a person commits acts that make them deportable prior to naturalizing as a U.S. citizen, they may still potentially face deportation after becoming a citizen. However, the government has to go through additional steps to deport citizens versus noncitizens in this scenario.
The main acts that could justify the deportation of a naturalized citizen are:
- Crimes involving moral turpitude – These are serious crimes that violate accepted moral standards, such as murder, aggravated assault, theft, or fraud.
- Aggravated felonies – Specific serious crimes defined under immigration law, including murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, drug trafficking, and certain types of fraud or theft.
- Failure to comply with Selective Service – Not registering for the Selective Service as required for male U.S. citizens ages 18-25.
- Terrorist activities – Providing material support to a terrorist organization, engaging in terrorist activities, or advocating or teaching terrorist activities.
If a naturalized citizen is found to have committed any of these acts prior to obtaining citizenship, the government may be able to make a case for their deportation. However, the deportation process has additional protections for citizens, which will be covered next.
Fraudulent Citizenship
The government can also potentially deport a naturalized citizen if it determines their U.S. citizenship was obtained through fraudulent means. This includes situations where a person lied on their citizenship application or in their naturalization interview to obtain approval for citizenship. Some examples of fraudulent citizenship include:
- Falsifying identity documents or lying about one’s identity
- Lying about or hiding one’s criminal history
- Failing to disclose prior deportations or immigration violations
- Obtaining citizenship through a fake marriage to a U.S. citizen
Proving fraudulent citizenship can allow the government to essentially revoke citizenship status and then move forward with deportation procedures. However, strict requirements still apply in these cases when the subject is a naturalized citizen versus a noncitizen.
Protections for citizens against deportation
Even in the limited cases where a U.S. citizen may potentially be deported, there are still significant protections built into the process under federal laws and regulations. Some of the key protections include:
- Right to a court hearing – Citizens cannot be deported without a hearing before an immigration judge where the government must provide clear and convincing evidence that the person acted fraudulently or committed deportable offenses prior to naturalizing.
- Right to appeal – If the immigration court orders deportation, the citizen still has the right to appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court to fight the decision.
- Burden of proof on the government – As mentioned, the government has to meet the very high bar of providing clear and convincing evidence of fraud or prior deportable acts, rather than just a preponderance of evidence as with noncitizens.
- No expedited removal – Citizens cannot be deported through the faster expedited removal process that applies to some noncitizens who commit immigration violations.
These protections make it difficult for the government to actually deport a naturalized U.S. citizen. Having citizenship provides much greater security against deportation, rather than simply being a legal permanent resident. Even if a citizen may technically be subject to deportation in certain cases, proving the case and overcoming all the procedural hurdles is challenging for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Process for deporting citizens
If DHS believes a naturalized U.S. citizen should be deported, they cannot simply apprehend and remove the person from the country. A complex legal process must be followed in order to deport a citizen, involving the following key steps:
- Notice to Appear – DHS issues a charging document called a Notice to Appear, alleging that the person is subject to removal for either fraudulent naturalization or prior deportable acts.
- Detention hearing – The citizen is entitled to a detention hearing before an immigration judge within 14 days to determine if they should remain detained during deportation proceedings.
- Master calendar hearing – The first court hearing before a judge to assess charges and allow the citizen to plead their case. The person can seek their own legal counsel.
- Individual merits hearing – The detailed evidentiary hearing where DHS must provide clear and convincing evidence to support the grounds for deportation of the citizen.
- Court decision – The immigration judge issues a decision on whether evidence proves fraudulent/unlawful procurement of citizenship or if prior deportable acts justify removal.
- Appeals process – If the court orders deportation, the citizen has the right to appeal up to the Supreme Court to fight the decision.
This court hearing process can take months or even years to complete. Throughout the proceedings, the citizen remains entitled to robust due process rights and constitutional protections.
If the court ultimately orders deportation after all appeals are exhausted, DHS will enforce the removal order like any other. However, the agency will take additional steps to confirm the person’s citizenship status has been revoked prior to physical deportation from the United States.
Conclusion
Deportation of U.S. citizens is an extremely rare occurrence, limited only to cases where citizenship was obtained fraudulently or deportable acts took place prior to naturalization. The constitutional rights of citizens provide robust protections throughout the deportation process, making it much more difficult for the government to prove its case and carry out removal compared to cases involving noncitizens.
While technically possible in a narrow set of circumstances, deporting a U.S. citizen requires overcoming significant legal and procedural hurdles. Citizenship remains the most secure form of protection against forced removal from the United States.