Stop Unfair Barriers to Citizenship: End the Overreach on 'Good Moral Character' Standards

The recent directive from the Trump administration expands the 'good moral character' requirement for immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship, demanding scrutiny of minor infractions and subjective assessments of personal behavior. This goes far beyond the established legal criteria, which already require applicants to prove they have not committed serious crimes or engaged in harmful conduct.

The new policy allows USCIS officers to consider minor traffic violations, community involvement, and even caregiving responsibilities in their decisions, introducing uncertainty and bias into the process. This heightened scrutiny risks excluding deserving immigrants for trivial or ambiguous reasons, undermining the principles of fairness and equal opportunity that the United States stands for.

Naturalization is already a rigorous process, involving years of legal residency, background checks, and proficiency exams. Adding arbitrary and invasive standards only serves to discourage legal immigrants from pursuing citizenship and fosters fear and discrimination.

We call on USCIS and DHS to immediately halt this overreach and restore trust in the naturalization process. Citizenship should not be reserved for an unattainable 'best of the best,' but should remain open to all who meet the established legal requirements and wish to contribute to our communities.