Expanded criterion for demonstrating 'good moral character' now necessary for obtaining naturalized U.S. citizenship under Trump administration policies
The Trump administration has announced a significant expansion of the requirement for immigrants seeking US citizenship or other immigration-related benefits to display "good moral character."
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has sent a memo to its officers, detailing a more holistic approach in evaluating the good moral character of immigrants. The memo, issued on Friday, aims to account more heavily for an immigrant's positive attributes, rather than simply the absence of misconduct.
The new policy includes scrutiny of "anti-American" attitudes in those seeking immigration-related benefits. It also requires the "full payment" of overdue taxes for immigrants, in addition to other obligations such as child-support payments.
The memo creates a new subjective standard without providing the analysis that will be performed in adjudicating an application for naturalization. People who engage in "harassment or aggressive solicitation" may be found to lack good moral character, but the memo does not provide a clear definition of these terms.
The updated policy considers multiple traffic tickets as a potential lack of good moral character. It also requires immigrants who owe overdue taxes to prove full payment, a change from the previous requirement of showing a payment plan with the IRS.
Immigration attorneys have expressed concerns about the new policy, stating that it is likely to introduce a great deal of uncertainty, unpredictability, and administrative burden. The expansion is a move that some immigration lawyers have denounced as adding uncertainty to the naturalization process.
The USCIS's new memorandum for determining good moral character focuses on a case-by-case assessment considering the applicant's behaviour, criminal history, adherence to laws, and evidence demonstrating rehabilitation or positive contributions. However, the memo does not provide clear guidelines on what kind of documentation immigrants will be required to provide or how officials will weigh and verify such evidence.
The standard to show good moral character has long been part of the naturalization process in the US. The Trump administration's updated policy appears to effectively change the substantive requirements for naturalization without notice and comment, just by policy.
In a related development, the US State Department ordered embassies to pause visa interviews for international students in late May so they could more heavily scrutinize students' social media. This pause was lifted after the State Department told embassies to screen for "hostile attitudes towards our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles."
The expansion of the good moral character requirement is one way the Trump administration is more heavily scrutinizing the lives of people applying for citizenship or for the right to live, work, or study in the United States. The memo gives individual officers more authority to ask about private lives, adding to the uncertainty and administrative burden for immigrants seeking to become US citizens.
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