USCIS 100:98. What is the name of the national anthem?
USCIS 100:53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
More Citizenship Resources for Christmas
uscitizenpod: Winter Holidays Citizenship Quiz
Celebrate the Winter Holidays with 15 Civics Questions. I ask, you answer.
Download a PDF or MP3 of this quiz.
For more Citizenship Resources for the Winter Holidays, click here.
Even during the holidays, study a little bit every day. I know that you will be a GREAT American citizen!
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| Created with AI MS Image Deigner October 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM |
On December 17, 2025, the NYTimes published: Trump Administration Aims to Strip More Foreign-Born Americans of Citizenship. I used ChatGPT to rephrase the information at CEFR B1-level for ESL/Citizenship students and teachers. Please read the entire article. Consult immigration legal services as needed.
Trump Administration Denaturalization Plan (source New York Times / Reuters)
The U.S. government plans to increase denaturalization cases a lot in the next year. USCIS has told its offices to send 100–200 cases per month to the Justice Department for review. This is a much larger number than in the past.
In previous decades, the U.S. government brought only about 11 denaturalization cases per year. The new guidance would raise this sharply.
Denaturalization means the government goes to federal court to try to take away someone’s U.S. citizenship. It can happen only if the person became a citizen through fraud, misrepresentation, or unlawfully during the naturalization process.
The reported guidance comes from internal USCIS documents seen by New York Times . It directs USCIS field offices to identify and refer cases to the Office of Immigration Litigation.
Under U.S. law, a naturalized citizen can be denaturalized for specific reasons. For example:
If they lied or made false statements to get citizenship.
If they hid important facts (like prior crimes) during the naturalization process.
The process can take years because it involves civil litigation in federal court. It is not the same as a criminal trial, but requires legal steps and evidence.
USCIS says the focus will remain on cases where citizenship was unlawfully obtained.
This change is part of a broader immigration enforcement agenda by the administration, which also includes expanded travel bans and other immigration restrictions.
Immigration law experts and advocates have noted that denaturalization has traditionally been rare and used for serious fraud or security cases. A shift to many more cases represents a significant policy change.
In interviews, some former agency officials expressed concern at the scale of the case goals for denaturalization pushed by U.S.C.I.S. leadership.
Denaturalization means the government takes away someone’s U.S. citizenship.
Only naturalized citizens (people who became citizens after birth) can lose citizenship this way.
Citizenship can be taken away if it was gained through lies, fraud, or hiding important facts during the naturalization process.
The process begins with USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) identifying a case.
USCIS sends the case to the Justice Department, which may go to federal court to ask a judge to cancel the citizenship.
The person can defend themselves in court and must have a lawyer if possible.
Denaturalization is rare and usually takes many months or years.
If citizenship is canceled, the person becomes a noncitizen and may face deportation.
Homework:
"Give me your tired, your poor,Manfred Anson (1922-2012), a survivor of the Holocaust, designed this Hanukkah lamp for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Anson used a souvenir figurines to cast the statuettes for the lamp, and the Statue of Liberty torch was transformed into a candle holder. The lamp is surmounted by an American eagle, and the base of each statuette is inscribed with significant dates in Jewish history. This Statue of Liberty Menorah is currently displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington DC.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
NBC10 Boston: Immigrants naturalized at Boston ceremony after some applications paused
