--- description: While certain circumstances can lead someone to lose citizenship, burning a U.S. flag does not qualify as a sole reason title: Here Are the Only Times the U.S. Government Can Revoke Your Citizenship image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt752f3ed8702f3bfd/6988b0068fd2ee5a3635505a/flag-burn-laws-2.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Law](/tag/law/) ## Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here Are the Only Times the U.S. Government Can Revoke Your Citizenship by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 29, 2016 4:29 PM CUT  Anti-Trump protesters try to burn US flag during a rally outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016. Anti-Trump protesters try to burn US flag during a rally outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016.Nova Safo—AFP/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 29, 2016 4:29 PM CUT President-elect Donald Trump [suggested](http://time.com/4584614/donald-trump-burn-us-flag/?xid=homepage "undefined") Tuesday morning in a tweet that anyone who burns an American flag should suffer “consequences” such as having their citizenship taken away or spending a year in jail. Although flag burning is an act protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, Trump’s call to strip citizenship from a person shows that the President-elect could be willing to take away a citizen’s rights. While certain circumstances can lead someone to lose citizenship, burning a U.S. flag does not qualify as a sole reason. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/803567993036754944) Revoking U.S. citizenship is possible [under federal law](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1481 "undefined") if a person commits “any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States.” Burning a flag, under U.S. law, is not a treasonous act. A person also risks losing citizenship if he or she voluntarily renounces nationality, pledges allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision, serves in the armed forces of another country, especially if they are “engaged in hostilities” against the U.S. For naturalized citizens — those who are born abroad — grounds for [losing citizenship](https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartL-Chapter2.html "undefined") include joining or becoming affiliated with certain organizations, such as the Communist party or a terrorist organization within five years of naturalization. In 1990, the [Supreme Court declared](http://time.com/3907444/flag-supreme-court-history/ "undefined") that laws against desecrating the flag are unconstitutional and that flag burning is an example of constitutionally protected free speech. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/"},"headline":"Here Are the Only Times the U.S. Government Can Revoke Your Citizenship","datePublished":"2016-11-29T16:29:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:02:03.564Z","description":"Burning a flag isn't one of them","url":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/","keywords":["Law","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt752f3ed8702f3bfd/6988b0068fd2ee5a3635505a/flag-burn-laws-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt752f3ed8702f3bfd/6988b0068fd2ee5a3635505a/flag-burn-laws-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-CONVENTION-PROTEST","caption":"Anti-Trump protesters try to burn US flag during a rally outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016.","creditText":"Nova Safo—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/law/","name":"Law"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/","name":"Here Are the Only Times the U.S. Government Can Revoke Your Citizenship"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Protest Erupts Over Flag-Burning Outside Republican Convention","description":"Mass confusion erupted at a not-so-mass protest Wednesday afternoon outside the Republican National Convention in downtown Cleveland.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/caSh5o73/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-20T23:01:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/caSh5o73.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/","duration":"PT28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4584784/donald-trump-flag-burn-citizenship/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```