The US Department of Justice has initiated its largest denaturalisation effort in modern history, targeting 40 individuals for various serious offences, including fraud and espionage. Among those facing citizenship revocation is Balwinder Singh of California, accused of using a fraudulent identity, and Jinchao Wei, a former US Navy sailor convicted of espionage for China.
A 62-year-old Indian-origin man, now a US citizen, faces denaturalisation proceedings for allegedly defrauding investors of USD 2.5 million and concealing this from US authorities.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has revoked the naturalisation of Gurmeet Singh, an Indian-origin man, after he was convicted of rape and kidnapping. Singh had concealed these serious criminal acts during his naturalisation process, leading to the federal court's decision to strip him of his US citizenship.
The Trump administration is looking at plans to strip some naturalised Americans of their citizenship, the latest in a series of efforts undertaken by President Donald Trump to crack down on immigration.
As the Trump administration pushes denaturalisation targets, US citizenship trends show a decline in Indian naturalisations and longer scrutiny of immigrants.
Mr Trump's actions, because of their extreme nature and the dangerous rhetoric that accompanies them, receive the most attention, points out Mihir S Sharma.
'Someone posts a job on LinkedIn and there are a thousand resumes in an hour? This is not the America IT professionals are used to.' 'Once they lose their job, it's impossible to get a job.'
Singh, a native of India, arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 25, 1991, without any travel documents or proof of identity.
'There's a lot of confusion. It started because the President's tweet was all-encompassing.' 'It has been watered down over the last few days though to more narrow classes of immigrants.'
Even as February 2017 will be remembered for the fight Americans have put up for the rights of immigrants, South Asian Americans recall the February of 1923 when the US Supreme Court barred South Asians from becoming citizens.
From citizenship rights to hate crimes and police brutality, no wave of persecution in the US has left Indians completely untouched.
