(TNND) — The Trump administration’s crackdown on crime is getting tougher. The Justice Department has issued a memo directing United States Attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings.”

That means stripping naturalized Americans of their citizenship when charged with crimes. The memo came down from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.

“individuals who pose a potential danger to national security, including those with a nexus to terrorism, espionage, or the unlawful export from the United States of sensitive goods, technology, or information raising national security concerns.”

According to government data, of the 46.2 million immigrants living in the U.S. in 2022, 24.5 million were naturalized citizens.

Shumate goes on to say in the memo, “The benefits of civil denaturalization include the government’s ability to revoke the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses; to remove naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport.”

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate made it clear that pursuing denaturalization will be among the agency’s top five enforcement priorities for the civil division.

You can read the entire memo below.