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8 U.S.C. § 1453

Section 1453 · Cancellation of certificates issued by Attorney General, the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner; action not to affect citizenship status

This is § 342 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)

Amended 1 time on record

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Magnuson v. Baker (1990)

Most recently applied in Hadwan v. US Dep't of State (June 2025)

How often courts cite this section

19521960198020002020202520ch. 477enacted · 1952 · ch. 477Magnuson v. Bakerleading · 1990 · Magnuson v. Baker
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The Attorney General is authorized to cancel any certificate of citizenship, certificate of naturalization, copy of a declaration of intention, or other certificate, document or record heretofore issued or made by the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner or hereafter made by the Attorney General if it shall appear to the Attorney General's satisfaction that such document or record was illegally or fraudulently obtained from, or was created through illegality or by fraud practiced upon, him or the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner; but the person for or to whom such document or record has been issued or made shall be given at such person's last-known place of address written notice of the intention to cancel such document or record with the reasons therefor and shall be given at least sixty days in which to show cause why such document or record should not be canceled. The cancellation under this section of any document purporting to show the citizenship status of the person to whom it was issued shall affect only the document and not the citizenship status of the person in whose name the document was issued.

Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Effective Date

Section effective 180 days after June 27, 1952, see section 407 of act June 27, 1952, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.

Cross References

Definition of Attorney General, Commissioner, and Deputy Commissioner, see section 1101 of this title.

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