As the political landscape in the United States tilts evermore toward nationalism, legal immigrants—many of whom hold green cards or citizenship—could find themselves vulnerable to unprecedented challenges. While the focus of past immigration debates has often centered on undocumented immigrants, there is a growing fear that a future administration, possibly under a leader like Donald J. Trump, could take drastic steps that might impact those who believed their legal status was secure.
The Long Shadow of Nativism
The fear that legal immigrants could one day lose their status is not without historical precedent. During World War I, anti-German sentiment ran rampant throughout the United States. Legal immigrants from Germany, many of whom had lived in the country for decades, found themselves under suspicion. Some were placed in internment camps, while others faced deportation under laws passed during times of wartime hysteria. This set a grim precedent: when public sentiment shifts, even legal status offers no protection.
Fast forward to World War II, and the U.S. government carried out mass internments of Japanese Americans, including those who were U.S. citizens. Over 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them legal residents or citizens, were forcibly relocated to camps, their rights suspended under executive orders driven by fear and xenophobia. The government’s ability to strip away legal protections in times of national panic cannot be underestimated.
A Future Trump Administration: A Looming Threat?
Should Donald Trump—or a political successor with similar views—return to the White House, legal immigrants may face new challenges to their status. Trump has previously shown a willingness to take aggressive action against immigration, such as attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and restrict refugee resettlement. His administration also sought to limit legal immigration pathways, including family-based sponsorships and the Diversity Visa Lottery.
While green card holders and naturalized citizens are generally seen as secure in their status, legal scholars warn that this may not be the case if immigration policy takes a more extreme turn. In the last days of his administration, Trump signed executive orders that made it easier to deport noncitizens for minor criminal offenses, and he hinted at the possibility of stripping naturalized citizens of their status if they were deemed a threat to national security.
Many fear that these policies could return in a second Trump administration or under a similarly nationalist leader, expanding the grounds for deportation beyond criminal behavior to include political dissent or affiliations deemed undesirable by the government.
Revocation of Citizenship: A Rare but Real Possibility
Historically, the revocation of citizenship has been rare in the United States, but it has occurred. In the 1950s, the U.S. government initiated denaturalization proceedings against individuals accused of being communists during the Red Scare. Though relatively few were ultimately stripped of their citizenship, the mere fact that it was possible reflects the precariousness of legal status in times of political fear.
More recently, in the 21st century, denaturalization efforts were revived under the Trump administration, targeting individuals accused of lying on their citizenship applications. The Department of Justice launched “Operation Janus,” aimed at identifying and potentially revoking the citizenship of people who had allegedly committed fraud during the naturalization process. Though the program focused on fraudulent cases, it underscored the power of the government to strip individuals of what they had assumed was a permanent status.
The expansion of these efforts under a future administration could leave many immigrants—and even those who have naturalized—facing the chilling possibility of losing their legal protections.
The Expanding Grounds for Deportation
Under Trump’s first term, the criteria for deportation expanded significantly. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was empowered to target not only undocumented immigrants but also legal residents who had committed minor infractions, such as traffic violations. In some cases, green card holders were swept into deportation proceedings for offenses committed decades earlier, underscoring the fragility of legal status in an aggressive enforcement environment.
If a future Trump administration—or another administration with similar priorities—were to take power, there is reason to believe these policies could be expanded. Legal residents could face stricter scrutiny, with more grounds for deportation introduced, particularly in the wake of any new national security crisis or economic downturn.
One potential tool for such actions could be the “public charge” rule, which makes it more difficult for legal immigrants to gain permanent residency or citizenship if they are deemed likely to rely on public assistance. A future administration could reinstate and broaden the rule to target those already holding green cards, creating new legal barriers for those seeking to naturalize.
A Nation Divided: What Comes Next?
As the 2024 election looms and the rhetoric surrounding immigration intensifies, many legal immigrants and naturalized citizens are beginning to question just how secure their status truly is. What was once seen as a guarantee of protection may now be subject to the whims of an administration that views immigrants with suspicion, regardless of their legal status.
The United States has long prided itself on being a nation of immigrants, but history tells a different story. In times of political unrest, even those who believe they have secured their place in the country may find themselves at risk. The possibility of denaturalization, deportation, or the revocation of permanent residency is no longer a distant concern for many; it is a growing fear.
In the words of civil rights activist Frederick Douglass: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” As political winds shift, it remains to be seen how far a future administration may go—and how much the nation’s legal immigrants will have to endure.
