A federal judge in San Diego has granted the U.S. Justice Department's request to strip citizenship from a California couple who pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets, officials said. The decision affects Yu Zhou and Li Chen, married immigrants from China who admitted in 2020 to plotting to steal trade secrets and to committing wire fraud tied to pediatric medical treatment for financial gain.
U.S. District Judge James Simmons found that Zhou and Chen engaged in "crimes involving moral turpitude" at times when they were legally required to demonstrate upstanding character during their immigration process, a finding that allowed the Justice Department to seek denaturalization under federal law. Those statutes permit revocation of naturalized citizenship when an individual obtained it by concealing or misrepresenting material facts.
According to court filings, the couple arrived in the United States on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Both later became naturalized U.S. citizens nine years after their arrivals. At the time of the criminal case, Zhou and Chen were researchers employed at Nationwide Children e2 80 99s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
A lawyer for Zhou and Chen declined to comment on the denaturalization ruling.
The denaturalization of Zhou and Chen is the latest in a string of similar actions by the Justice Department during President Donald Trump e2 80 99s second term. The department has secured denaturalizations in 13 cases and has 16 additional cases pending, according to Justice Department statements. The Civil Division of the department identified denaturalization as one of its top priorities last year.
Attorney General Pam Bondi commented on the broader program, saying, "These latest denaturalizations illustrate this Department of Justice's focus on ensuring that citizenship remains a privilege to obtain, not a right to abuse." The comment accompanied the announcement of the denaturalization action involving Zhou and Chen.
The Justice Department last week succeeded in revoking citizenship from individuals originally from Ukraine and Cuba who had been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, crimes. It is also pursuing revocation of citizenship for a Lebanese immigrant who previously pleaded guilty to lying during the naturalization process.
Separately, the Justice Department under the Trump administration plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider long-established birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment by urging the court to overturn the nearly universal right to automatic citizenship for those born in the United States. That move was described by Justice Department officials as part of a broader effort to redefine how citizenship can be obtained and maintained.
Officials noted that seven of the 13 denaturalization cases secured during the current presidential term were originally filed during the prior administration. The department's recent successes and ongoing cases reflect what it has described as a sustained emphasis on identifying instances where naturalization was obtained through concealment or misrepresentation, or where post-naturalization conduct warrants revocation.
The denaturalization action against Zhou and Chen follows their 2020 guilty pleas on charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets and wire fraud tied to medical research. Court documents and the government's filings in the denaturalization proceeding framed those criminal convictions as the grounds for seeking revocation of naturalized status under federal law.
The ruling by Judge Simmons adds Zhou and Chen to the list of naturalized citizens whose citizenship has been revoked by federal courts in recent months, as the Justice Department continues to prioritize such cases alongside its other immigration and criminal enforcement actions.