By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is revoking the U.S. citizenship of a California couple who emigrated from China and pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets.
A federal judge in San Diego, California granted the Justice Department's request to revoke U.S. citizenship from Yu Zhou and Li Chen, a married couple from China who pleaded guilty in 2020 to charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets and wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge James Simmons
found Zhou and Chen had committed "crimes involving moral turpitude" when they were legally required to show upstanding character as part of their immigration process.
Federal law allows the Justice Department to revoke citizenship from naturalized immigrants if citizenship was obtained by concealing or misrepresenting important facts.
In Trump's second term, the DOJ has secured denaturalization in 13 cases and has 16 pending cases.
As Trump makes a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his policies, revoking citizenship is part of the administration's wider agenda to portray U.S. citizenship as a privilege that can be revoked or redefined.
Trump's Justice Department on Wednesday will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the longstanding right to automatic citizenship for nearly anyone born in the United States, known as birthright citizenship, under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"These latest denaturalizations illustrate this Department of Justice's focus on ensuring that citizenship remains a privilege to obtain, not a right to abuse," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Tuesday.
A lawyer for Zhou and Chen declined to comment.
Chen and Zhou, who were researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, arrived in the U.S. on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers in 2007 and 2008, respectively. They became citizens nine years later.
Zhou and Chen admitted in 2020 to plotting to steal trade secrets related to pediatric medical treatment for financial gain.
The Justice Department last week succeeded in stripping citizenship from natives of Ukraine and Cuba who were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes. It is also seeking to revoke the citizenship of a Lebanese immigrant who had pleaded guilty to lying during the naturalization process.
The Justice Department's Civil Division last year identified denaturalization as one of its top priorities.
Seven of the 13 denaturalization cases the DOJ has secured during Trump's second term were brought during the Biden administration.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
