US EditionTrump administration heightens ‘good moral character’ standards for potential US citizens
USCIS now requires a comprehensive evaluation of citizenship applicants' moral character, including positive community contributions and scrutiny of minor legal infractions, per new policy.
- On August 15, USCIS issued a memo directing officers to apply greater scrutiny to immigrants' good moral character during naturalization across the United States.
- The memo resulted from broader Trump administration efforts to tighten immigration by expanding the legal definition of moral character beyond criminal acts to include socially undesirable behaviors.
- The policy mandates a holistic review of applicants' conduct, weighing positive factors like community involvement and full payment of taxes against negative factors such as multiple traffic infractions or harassment.
- USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser emphasized that U.S. citizenship represents the highest standard and should be granted exclusively to top-tier applicants, while critics such as attorney Susan Ramos expressed concern that the policy effectively alters naturalization criteria without public input.
- This directive could make naturalization more subjective and uncertain for hundreds of thousands annually, reflecting the administration's goal to restore immigration system integrity amid rising public support for immigration.
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By Michael Williams, CNN The Trump administration has expanded the requirement for immigrants seeking US citizenship to demonstrate “good moral character,” a move immigration lawyers say is troubling because it adds uncertainty to the naturalization process. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that administers the nation’s legal immigration system, last week instructed its offic…
Trump administration expands ‘good moral character’ requirement to become naturalized citizen
The Trump administration is expanding the requirement for immigrants who are hoping to become US citizens to display “good moral character,” in a move that some immigration lawyers denounced as a troubling change that adds uncertainty to the naturalization process.
'It's problematic': Columnist highlights 'glaring reason' Trump's plan falls on its face
A columnist noted the irony of President Donald Trump demanding immigrants ace a "moral fitness" test that he likely couldn't pass himself.The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that agents would focus primarily on the “good moral character” of migrants seeking American citizenship, which MSNBC's Jarvis DeBerry called out as obviously problematic in multiple ways."First, it follows previous moves by the Trump administration to t…
‘Privilege, not a right’: US tightens citizenship rules with new ‘good moral character’ test
“US citizenship is the gold standard of citizenship — it should only be offered to the world's best of the best,” US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.
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