claimed “without exception” that harsh and lengthy interrogations by consular staff had resulted in coerced confessions to immigration fraud.533 The practice affected naturalized citizens of the United States, “many of whom had been . . . living in the United States for decades.”534 According to legal aid groups, Yemeni-Americans caught up in these practices reported that the State Department officials interrogating them directly attributed their conduct to blanket assumptions: “all Yemenis lie about their names and family relations.”535 Passport confiscation is a legal term, and by law, passports can be confiscated only after a formal process of passport revocation invalidates a passport (as explained in the boxes at right). Passport confiscation from naturalized Americans without following procedures for formal revocation amounts to an end-run around the limited due process guarantees provided in U.S. law.536 The scheme also avoids the elaborate denaturalization procedures detailed in the previous chapter.537 YemeniAmericans in Yemen thus found themselves in a kind of legal vacuum, in this case because the State Department, without legal authority and in fact contrary to the law, spontaneously implemented a discretionary documentation regime based on national origin. As one critic has noted: By choosing to take aggressive administrative action on a large scale in Yemen, the State Department has achieved an outcome—with naturalized citizens stripped of their U.S. passports, stranded beyond U.S. borders, and unable to avail themselves of due privileges and protections—that could normally be achieved only through denaturalization.538 Retention Retention is temporary. The Foreign Affairs Manual “does not place any specific time limits on how long a passport may be retained by the Department [of State].” “There is likewise no specific guidance drawing distinctions between passports that are retained within the United States and those that are retained overseas.” – DHS, Office of Inspector General Revocation Revocation is the formal process for invalidating a passport. The Foreign Affairs Manual requires the Department of State to send a formal notification to the passport holder including notice of the right to appeal. Confiscation Confiscation of a passport is only permitted after revocation or pursuant to an arrest. III. Denial and revocation of documentation of U.S. citizenship 121