The potential to scrutinize bulk, digitized information about the activities of immigrants and citizens alike is likewise on the rise. It would therefore be naïve to assume that there may not be other, similar operations pursuing new aims using the increasingly available digital tracking systems currently under development. These systems will link data across different government agencies, including biometric data, data on entry and exit from the United States, criminal history, and relationship patterns. There is a pressing need to address the incoherence and protection gaps in the present denaturalization regime, especially its lack of resonance with the constitutional principles it so obviously intersects with. These principles include the equality of all citizens born or naturalized in the U.S., the prohibition on deprivation of citizenship as a form of punishment, the avoidance of statelessness, and the imperative of unambiguous procedural protections when the personal and social stakes are so high. Denaturalization Data at a Glance Civil denaturalization cases. Through a FOIA request, the Justice Initiative obtained data from the Department of Justice, Civil Division, on the number of civil denaturalization cases filed between 1972 and 2018. Based on the information received, it appears that 565 civil denaturalization cases were filed between 1972 and 2018. Over this time, on average, 12 civil denaturalization cases were filed per year. In only four previous years during this entire period (1987, 2000, 2001, and 2002) did the annual figure outstrip the number of civil cases filed in either 2017 or 2018.161 Our own comprehensive review of cases filed between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 returned seven additional 2018 cases compared to the number provided by DOJ. Average Number of Civil Denaturalizations per Year, by Administration162 29.5 18.9 17 15.8 7.8 4 1 1 Nixon Ford Carter 3.3 Reagan Bush Sr. Clinton Bush II. Denaturalization: A Radical Measure in the Hands of Zealots Obama Trump 45