Stephen Miller directs DHS-DOJ campaign to strip citizenship from naturalized voters
A secret memo targets citizens who may have voted before completing naturalization
On Feb. 19, 2026, CNN reported that a DHS memo titled "Potential Voter Fraud – Denaturalization" directed Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents to identify naturalized citizens who may have registered to vote or cast ballots before their naturalization was complete (CNN, Feb. 19, 2026).
Key Concepts
Essential concepts and terms to understand this topic
Waiver of Rights
Voluntary surrender of constitutional protections.
Border Exception
Reduced Fourth Amendment protections within 100 miles of the U.S. border where CBP has expanded search powers.
Term Limits Debate
The ongoing constitutional and policy debate over whether to impose mandatory term limits on members of Congress or federal judges, neither of which currently face constitutional limits.
Congressional Enforcement
Congress''s authority to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment and other constitutional guarantees.
Exclusionary Rule
Rule that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used to convict someone in court.
Expulsion of Members
Each chamber can vote to remove a member with a two-thirds majority.
Ineligibility Clause
Constitutional bar on members accepting federal offices created or with increased salaries during their term.
Congressional Ethics
Rules governing member conduct and preventing conflicts of interest in Congress.
Third Party Doctrine
Legal doctrine allowing police to access data shared with third parties without a warrant.
Key People
5SM
Stephen Miller
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser
Miller is the driving force behind the DHS-DOJ campaign, holding weekly inter-agency meetings through his office with DHS and Justice Department leadership to launch the voter-fraud denaturalization push. He has daily 10 a.m. conference calls demanding updates from agencies and exerts direct pressure on senior officials.
Anthony Salisbury
Senior White House aide, top deputy to Stephen Miller
Salisbury oversaw the specific working group on election fraud that coordinated across the deputy attorney general's office, HSI, the National Security Council, and other White House aides to build the interagency campaign.
HS
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
DHS investigative arm directed to execute the campaign
HSI agents received the memo directing them to identify naturalized citizens who may have registered or voted before completing naturalization, and are required to submit reports to the White House detailing each case in which they decline to bring charges.
NU
Naturalized U.S. citizens who voted before completing naturalization
Targets of the campaign
People who voted — often inadvertently — while on a legal path to citizenship (e.g., as green-card holders who mistakenly believed they were eligible) now face potential criminal prosecution and loss of citizenship they have already obtained.
BC
Brennan Center for Justice
Legal advocacy organization documenting legal hurdles to denaturalization
Published analysis showing that stripping naturalized Americans of citizenship faces high constitutional and evidentiary hurdles under Supreme Court precedent, serving as a counterweight to administration claims about the ease of the campaign.
What you can do
Contact your senators about the denaturalization campaign
legislative contact
Stephen Miller's White House office requires HSI agents to report every case where they decline to bring criminal charges against naturalized citizens — meaning senators need to know their constituents are being tracked and reported to the White House for exercising civic participation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has direct oversight authority over both DOJ and DHS. Call your senators and demand they request the full DHS 'Potential Voter Fraud – Denaturalization' memo and hold oversight hearings.
Track HSI denaturalization case filings via PACER
monitoring
Homeland Security Investigations is filing federal criminal cases under 18 U.S.C. § 611 against naturalized citizens for pre-naturalization voting. PACER — the federal court filing system — is publicly searchable. You can monitor new case filings in your district, track how many cases are being charged versus declined, and share data with journalists and legal advocacy groups documenting the scale of the campaign.
Support ACLU litigation defending naturalized citizens' citizenship
legal advocacy
The Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU have both documented the high constitutional and evidentiary bar the government must clear to strip citizenship — courts require 'clear, unequivocal, and convincing' evidence under Schneiderman v. United States (1943). The ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project is tracking denaturalization cases and challenging overreach. If you're a naturalized citizen who may have voted before your oath, or if you know someone who was, contact the ACLU immediately for referral to immigration counsel.
Look up your representatives' voting records on immigration oversight bills
research
GovTrack and Congress.gov track every vote your House member and senators cast on DHS oversight, immigration enforcement, and the SAVE Act — the bill DHS Secretary Kristi Noem promoted alongside this campaign. Checking their voting record tells you whether they've supported or blocked oversight of DHS programs like this one, and gives you concrete evidence for calls and town halls.