Senator Schmitt Chairs Hearing on Denaturalization: “American Citizenship is Sacred”

Schmitt Calls for Passage of His SCAM Act to Denaturalize Fraudsters, Terrorists, Gangsters

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, held a hearing titled Protecting American Citizenship III: Denaturalization and its Constitutional Limits. Schmitt highlighted our nation's legal immigration problems and argued why denaturalization is a critical safeguard to protect the sanctity of American citizenship. Schmitt previously introduced the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act to restore integrity to the naturalization process by expanding and clarifying grounds to revoke the citizenship of certain individuals who demonstrate through their involvement with fraud, espionage, or terrorist organizations that they never met the statutory requirements for citizenship.

Watch the Senator's opening remarks HERE.

"American Citizenship is sacred. It is the highest civic honor this country can give. It carries rights, duties, allegiance, memory, inheritance, and obligation. It means joining the American people and accepting responsibility for the future of the nation. But for too long, Washington treated naturalization like paperwork. Check the boxes. Say the words. Get the passport. Collect the welfare check or federal tax credit. Move on. That approach desecrates American citizenship. It insults every immigrant who came here honestly, followed the law, learned our history, embraced our Constitution, and took the oath in good faith. The Constitution gives Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. Congress used that power to require more than residency and forms. Instead, applicants must show good moral character. They must be attached to the principles of the Constitution. They must be well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. When someone lies during that process, conceals material facts, hides criminal conduct, masks allegiance to a foreign enemy, or swears loyalty with mental reservation, he commits fraud against the United States and the American people. Fraud has desecrated American citizenship. But that desecration did not happen overnight. It built up over decades of lax enforcement, cheapened standards, and political cowardice. Re-consecrating citizenship requires a remedy strong enough to remove those who abused it: Denaturalization. Denaturalization cancels citizenship that should never have been granted. It enforces the conditions Congress placed on naturalization. It protects the American people from those who abused our generosity and turned the oath into a scam. The Supreme Court has made the rule clear: no alien has the slightest right to naturalization unless every statutory requirement is met. Citizenship obtained by fraud is stolen status. Stolen status should be revoked…"

In Senator Schmitt's line of questioning, he highlighted the cases of Mirsad Ramic and Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, two naturalized citizens who were convicted of terrorism offenses related to ISIS. After being released from his ISIS-related sentence in federal prison, Jalloh went on to kill Lt. Col. Brandon Shah in a terrorist attack on an ROTC classroom. Schmitt asked the witnesses about the federal government's ability under to current law to denaturalize people who have proven through actions like these horrific crimes that they never met the requirements for naturalization and American citizenship in the first place. Schmitt's SCAM Act would give the Trump Administration the ability to denaturalize and deport individuals who are involved with terrorist organizations.

Watch the Senator's line of questioning HERE.

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