To fulfill a President Donald Trump campaign promise on merit-based immigration, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has directed officers to apply a “rigorous, holistic, and comprehensive” review of naturalization applicants in a new memo that sets standards for “good moral character” (GMC).
Citizenship should be reserved for “the world’s best of the best,” USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told The Washington Post in a statement.
Friday’s USCIS memo ensures officers consider “community involvement, achievements, and financial responsibility rather than the absence of misconduct,” he added to the Post.
The mere absence of a criminal history has long been too simple of a standard, but now extreme vetting for U.S. citizenship sets the standards of requiring evidence of positive contributions such as family caregiving, steady employment, community involvement, and compliance with tax obligations, according to the memo.
The GMC standard was defined in the memo:
“Naturalization is envisioned not simply as a procedural immigration benefit — the greatest of all — but a significant legal transformation, an assimilation to a country that demands both allegiance and character. A step towards naturalization is determining whether an alien has met the requirement of demonstrating GMC.
“Section 316(a)(3) requires that an alien applying for naturalization ‘has been and still is a person of good moral character’ during the statutory period. USCIS determines whether an alien has met the GMC requirement on a case-by-case basis.
“The standard of proof for all naturalization decisions, including GMC, is preponderance of the evidence. This means that aliens must show it is more likely than not that they have met all the requirements for naturalization.
“The regulations and policy affirm that GMC findings must go beyond the absence of disqualifying acts, it must reflect a genuine positive assessment of who the alien is and how they have lived in their community. Thus, GMC has generally meant a character commensurate with the standards of average citizens of the community in which the alien resides.”
Under the banner of “Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character Evaluation Standard for Aliens Applying for Naturalization,” the memo outlined the following:
- “Conditional bars to GMC, such as controlled substances violations, two or more convictions for driving under the influence (DUI), false claim to U.S. citizenship, unlawful voter registration, or unlawful voting.
- “Any other acts that are contrary to the average behavior of citizens in the jurisdiction where aliens reside. These could be actions that, while technically lawful, may be inconsistent with civic responsibility within the community, such as reckless or habitual traffic infractions, or harassment or aggressive solicitation.
- “In assessing acts that are unlawful or contrary to the average behavior of citizens of the community in which the alien resides USCIS will review all available documentation and question aliens seeking naturalization regarding the specific circumstances of their actions to determine if a particular situation or act should bar an alien from naturalization.”
Critics say the broad language could open the door to subjective judgments.
The guidance is “not necessarily a break from past practice,” Jane Lopez, a Brigham Young University professor who studies immigration and citizenship, told the Post, but allows officers to “impose their subjective interpretations of this fuzzy concept.”
USCIS officers already have broad authority to deny applications “for a multitude of reasons,” she adding, warning the new standard could “make it harder for noncitizens to obtain legal belonging in the United States,” since officers “must evaluate something they cannot consistently describe or define.”
“Good moral character” has been part of U.S. naturalization law since 1790.
Read the memo here.
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