It's the Brian Lair Show on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC in Gothamist Newsroom, sitting in for Brian this week.

Now we'll talk about the state of

naturalized citizens during the second Trump presidency. What once served as the final step of

securing the American dream has now become a status marked with uncertainty. Nearly 25 million

Americans became citizens of this country through the laborious process of naturalization.

Yet despite coming here the right way, enduring years of documents, interviews, and exams,

naturalized citizens fear their right to continue living their lives in this country is under

threat. The fear's not without reason. Last month, the Department of Justice

released a memo, designating denaturalization as one of their top five priorities, asserting

they will initiate civil proceedings, quote, if an individual either illegally procured naturalization

or procured naturalization by concealment of a

material fact or by willful misrepresentation but what counts as a legal

procurement or misrepresentation of fact what happens to the naturalized

citizens who swore an oath of allegiance to the Constitution which is more than most of us born here have done.

With me now is Chris Feliciano Arnold, director of the creative writing program at St. Mary's College of California

and the author of The Third Bank of the River, Power and Survival in the 21st Century Amazon.

He has a new piece in the Atlantic titled Naturalized Citizens

Are Scared. Chris, welcome to WNYC. Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here.

And Chris, you begin your piece in the Atlantic with your own story of naturalization. So why don't

we start there? You became a citizen of the United States at age 13. Tell us about your

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