US strips citizenship from couple in trade theft case, part of Trump immigration push
Last edited Wed Apr 1, 2026, 08:05 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Reuters
March 31, 2026 6:09 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago
WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is revoking the U.S. citizenship of a California couple who emigrated from China and pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets. A federal judge in San Diego, California granted the Justice Department's request to revoke U.S. citizenship from Yu Zhou and Li Chen, a married couple from China who pleaded guilty in 2020 to charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets and wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge James Simmons found Zhou and Chen had committed "crimes involving moral turpitude" when they were legally required to show upstanding character as part of their immigration process. Federal law allows the Justice Department to revoke citizenship from naturalized immigrants if citizenship was obtained by concealing or misrepresenting important facts.
In Trump's second term, the DOJ has secured denaturalization in 13 cases and has 16 pending cases. As Trump makes a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his policies, revoking citizenship is part of the administration's wider agenda to portray U.S. citizenship as a privilege that can be revoked or redefined.
Trump's Justice Department on Wednesday will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the longstanding right to automatic citizenship for nearly anyone born in the United States, known as birthright citizenship, under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "These latest denaturalizations illustrate this Department of Justice's focus on ensuring that citizenship remains a privilege to obtain, not a right to abuse," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Tuesday. A lawyer for Zhou and Chen declined to comment.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-strips-citizenship-couple-trade-theft-case-part-trump-immigration-push-2026-03-31/
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