Nathan Hansen

“That's just sort of a general principle of law.”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen characterized the tolling principle regarding fraud and statutes of limitations as a general principle of law.

“A denaturalization proceeding, or somebody to strip somebody of their naturalization, is another proceeding, which would be a civil proceeding brought by the Department of Justice, presumably maybe on behalf of the Department for Homeland Security, who handles most of these things,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen described denaturalization as a separate civil proceeding brought by the Department of Justice.

“If there was some sort of nexus between the criminal conviction and somebody's citizenship, it might be more likely that the Department of Justice would bring a denaturalization proceeding,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen said a nexus between a criminal conviction and citizenship would make denaturalization more likely.

“If somebody who's a naturalized citizen — which I believe Ilhan Omar is — is convicted of a crime, that doesn't automatically mean that they face denaturalization or anything like that,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen told Fox News Digital that a naturalized citizen convicted of a crime does not automatically face denaturalization.

“Whether you want to call it fraud or whatever, it's like an overwhelming of the system and the system is not being used in the way in which it was intended,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen described the immigration system as overwhelmed and not being used as intended.

“I mean, people would — I've seen cases where people would say, 'Well, people insulted me in my country.' And my response to that is, 'Your country probably provides more protection against insults than the United States. In the United States, we have freedom of speech, and for the most part, you can be as rude as you want to someone and insult them, and it's not a crime.'”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen recounted cases where asylum applicants claimed they were insulted in their country, and he responded that the U.S. has freedom of speech.

“My view of that is generally that fraud stops any statute of limitations. In other words, if something isn't disclosed or something's hidden, then it would be unfair to the other party to toll a statute of limitations against them,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen rejected speculation that statutes of limitations could hinder prosecution of Omar, saying fraud stops any statute of limitations.

“I think I would take it from a 30,000-foot view of just the amount of cases that the United States is facing right now of people coming here,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Asked about the prevalence of immigration fraud, Hansen pointed to the large volume of immigration cases in the United States.

“just totally didn't add up,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen said that as an immigration judge he frequently saw asylum claims that did not add up or documents that were clearly fake.

“It's got to be in the tens of millions of people coming here, I think, but certainly millions.”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen estimated the number of people coming to the United States is in the tens of millions.

“There were other asylum applications that just clearly lacked merit under existing law,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen said he saw asylum applications that clearly lacked merit under existing law.

“Asylum relief has to do with protected grounds,”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen explained that bogus asylum claims are contributing to the immigration case backlog.

“The most common ones are that, 'I was persecuted at the acquiescence or directly at the behest at the government I am fleeing from based upon my race, my religion, my ethnicity [or] my political views.' These are common claims.”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen described the most common protected grounds for asylum claims, including persecution based on race, religion, ethnicity, or political views.

“But I think it would be a discretionary matter within the people who are running the Justice Department.”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen said bringing a denaturalization proceeding would be a discretionary matter for Justice Department leadership.

“They would be handled by any type of other normal punishment that would come from the court.”

Nathan Hansen · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-28

Hansen explained that such cases would be handled through normal court punishment rather than denaturalization.