Under Trump, an Accusation Can Cost Your Citizenship
A BLM protestor has vanished from the prison system, Trump's travel ban prevented a World Cup referee from entering the country, and the same diseases Trump stopped monitoring are spreading
Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.
The Trump administration just launched the largest denaturalization push in U.S. history, targeting 17 citizens at once. The longest-sentenced 2020 BLM protester vanished from Oregon’s prison system and turned up 3,000 miles away in South Carolina. Trump’s travel ban prevented a World Cup referee from entering the country. And the same administration scrambling to contain bird flu and screwworm just defunded the global programs that were watching for both.
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Now, let’s dive in.
Trump Is Stripping Citizenship From People Who Haven’t Been Convicted
Turns out “once an American, always an American” was more of a suggestion than a rule.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud. Officials called it the largest-ever use of the government’s denaturalization powers.
To understand how unusual this is, consider the numbers. Between 1990 and 2017, the Justice Department filed an average of just 11 such complaints per year. The process was historically lengthy, complex, and seldom touched.
Last month, the administration announced a dozen cases and called that the largest effort in years. Now it has topped its own record in a matter of weeks.
Some of those targeted were convicted of serious crimes, including sex offenses against children. Others were accused of fraud, money laundering, or filing fraudulent H-1B visa petitions.
If denaturalized, these citizens revert to their prior immigration status and lose all the legal benefits of citizenship, including protection from deportation. Worth emphasizing: not all of them have been convicted of anything. The administration is not letting that slow it down.
BLM Protester Disappears From Oregon’s Prison System
Somewhere between Oregon and South Carolina, a prison system forgot it was holding a person.
In March, incarcerated activist Malik Muhammad’s standing call with their lawyer was canceled with no real explanation. When attorney Lauren Regan checked the Oregon Inmate Tracker, she found nothing — they had vanished without a trace.
Muhammad, an army veteran serving the longest federal sentence of any 2020 Black Lives Matter protester, disappeared from every tracking system. Friends feared they were dead. The best supporters could learn by early April was that Muhammad had been moved to a “confidential location.”
Late that month, a letter arrived from Kirkland Correctional Institute in South Carolina, an intake facility 3,000 miles from Oregon. Muhammad described being denied enough water, food, and recreation, and being forced to sleep on a mat that guards sometimes confiscated as punishment.
Muhammad’s plea deal explicitly required they serve their time in Oregon, near their community. They took the deal over the comparatively better federal system.
In 2024, Oregon held them in solitary for more than 250 days, despite a state limit of 90. Muhammad had also been helping organize a class-action lawsuit over Oregon’s abuse of solitary confinement.
Oregon insists that being Black, Muslim, an anarchist, and a political activist had nothing to do with why they ended up 3,000 miles from anyone who could help. Most outlets aren’t covering this story at all. If it matters to you that someone is, become a paid subscriber today.
Trump’s Travel Ban Stopped a World Cup Referee
There is something poetic about a country that prides itself on fair play denying entry to a man whose entire job is fairness.
Omar Artan, one of the 52 referees FIFA selected to officiate the June-July World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, was barred from entering the country at Miami International Airport despite having a valid U.S. visa.
It was not immediately clear why Artan was stopped, but Somalia is on the Trump administration’s travel ban list. He has since flown back to Istanbul.
Artan is not a random employee. He has been a FIFA referee since 2018, officiated the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and was named the Confederation of African Football’s men’s referee of the year in 2025.
In April, Somalia’s president praised him for becoming the first Somalian ever chosen to officiate at the World Cup finals, calling him “a symbol of inspiration for the new generation of Somalis.” A senior advisor to Somalia’s youth and sports ministry said denying him entry “undermines football’s commitment to fairness, merit, and the spirit of fair play.”
He was good enough for FIFA. He was not good enough for a customs agent.
Trump Defunded the Warning System, Kept the Outbreaks
The Trump administration defunded the programs watching for bird flu and screwworm. In completely unrelated news, the U.S. is now fighting bird flu and screwworm.
Among the 5,300 grants and projects axed in the gutting of USAID were U.S.-funded animal disease monitoring efforts run by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, according to a termination list sent to Congress and obtained by Agri-Pulse.
The cuts hit $250 million in projects housed under the FAO’s Global Health Security Program. Some were dedicated to monitoring avian flu outbreaks in Asia and improving detection of new strains. Others tracked New World Screwworm in Central America and worked to contain swine fever.
The timing doesn’t feel like a coincidence. The stop-work orders went out just days before the U.S. ended a suspension of cattle imports from Mexico, which was imposed in November precisely because Mexico had detected screwworm.
More than 100 U.S.-funded FAO programs were terminated, worth around $382 million. An FAO spokesperson said the cut agricultural-assistance programs supported millions in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Nigeria, and Chad, helping prevent famine and reduce forced migration.
The administration is also reviewing whether to withdraw from the FAO entirely, which is one way to make sure nobody’s left to say they told you so.
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