DOJ Invokes McCarthy-Era Law to Strip Somalia-born Minnesotan of Citizenship

Source: TPM

06.18.26 | 7:00 am


The federal government is applying a McCarthy-era law to strip a Somalia-born Minneapolis man of his citizenship over actions that took place after he became a citizen.

It’s a fundamental break with how the government has attempted to denaturalize people. Bound by extensive Supreme Court precedent, the DOJ has long pursued these cases against people who lied on their citizenship applications or omitted something significant enough that, had the government known, it would have declined the person’s citizenship application: war criminals who did not disclose atrocities in which they were involved, for example, or people who omitted serious crimes they committed from their applications.

Now, Salah Osman Ahmed stands to lose his citizenship not because of any allegation about something he did before he became a citizen. Rather, under a 1952 statute that’s almost never been used, Ahmed stands to lose his citizenship because of actions he took while he was a citizen.

The McCarthy-era statute grants the government enormous powers over recently minted citizens: it can revoke their citizenship if, in the five years after they become naturalized, they join an organization that, had they been a member at the time they applied for citizenship, would have caused the U.S. government to reject their application. Ahmed traveled to Somalia intending to join the militant group al-Shabaab, which would later be designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government. The law frames these actions as proof that he willfully misrepresented his state of mind when he took an oath of allegiance to the U.S.

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