Professor Aldana Speaks to S.F. Chronicle, KCBS About Push to 'Denaturalize' Citizens

Professor Raquel Aldana spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 7 about the U.S. Department of Justice’s push to “denaturalize” U.S. citizens whom the government finds to have gained their citizenship illegally.

The story points out that over the past 50 years, U.S. presidents have used denaturalization sparingly, and mainly in extreme cases involving Nazis and other war criminals.

But that changed with President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Aldana pointed out. By the end of that term, his administration had filed 102 cases, or about four times the number that Joe Biden’s administration would file during his term as president.

Aldana also spoke to San Francisco radio station KCBS about the same topic.

Raquel E. Aldana joined UC Davis in 2017 to serve as the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and returned to full-time law teaching in 2020. Aldana’s research has focused on transitional justice, criminal justice reforms and sustainable development in Latin America, as well as immigrant rights. She has authored or edited five books and published over 30 law review articles or book chapters. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and Harvard Law School.