Time – Jane was one month away from her naturalization ceremony, the day she would swear the Oath of Allegiance to the United States and become a citizen. It would mark the end of her decade-long journey as an immigrant since arriving from the Republic of Congo in 2015.
Then, out of the blue, she received a letter in the mail informing her that the ceremony had been cancelled.
“I followed the rules, paid the full fee, waited years, passed every step; I was at the finish line pretty much,” Jane, who is using a pseudonym to protect her identity because she fears speaking out could affect her case, tells TIME. “Having my ceremony canceled at the last minute makes me feel anxious, powerless.”
Jane is not alone. Lawyers for legal aid groups and individuals seeking citizenship have reported across the country that their naturalization interviews and oath ceremonies have been cancelled, some at the last moment as they waited in line.
These cancellations, at the last stage of a bureaucratic journey that can last for years, have caused chaos and confusion for thousands of immigrants who did everything by the book.
The cancellations stem from sweeping new restrictions on legal immigration introduced by President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the killing of a National Guardsman in Washington, D.C., particularly targeting immigrants hailing from the 19 countries listed in a June White House proclamation that imposed new travel and visa restrictions on countries “of concern.”
Immediately following the shooting, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” and “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” and on December 2, USCIS announced a hold and review of all pending immigration benefit requests for applicants born in one of the 19 countries “of concern.”
Gail Breslow, Executive Director of Project Citizenship, which provides legal services and assistance to immigrants in Massachusetts, tells TIME that one of her clients turned up to their ceremony on the day of the event only to be disappointed.
“As people were arriving, they were being asked what their country of origin was. And the woman from Haiti was, along with people from Haiti, Venezuela, and other so-called travel ban countries, pulled out of line, and told that their own ceremony for that day was canceled,” she says.
“There’s a tremendous amount of confusion, there’s a tremendous amount of fear, there’s a tremendous amount of anxiety,” Breslow says. “We’ve had clients ask us what they did wrong. Why is this happening to them? We, unfortunately, at this time, don’t have good answers to give people about what is going to happen next.”
Breslow emphasizes that the people whose ceremonies are canceled have already been accepted for citizenship—the ceremony is supposed to be a formality.
Jane and all those whose ceremonies were canceled were within reach of a long-held dream; now they are stuck in limbo, unsure whether they will ever become U.S. citizens.
USCIS told TIME in a statement that it has “paused all adjudications for aliens from high-risk countries while USCIS works to ensure that all aliens from these countries are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
“The pause will allow for a comprehensive examination of all pending benefit requests for aliens from the designated high-risk countries. The safety of the American people always comes first,” the statement added.
The Trump Administration has argued that the new changes are needed to allow extra “vetting” of immigrants, but anyone accepted has already undergone a years-long process. To become a naturalized citizen, applicants must have been lawful permanent residents for three to five years, meet the continuous residence and physical presence requirements, demonstrate “good moral character,” and pass the English and U.S. civics tests.
The oath-taking ceremony occurs at the very end of the process, after the applicants’ interview and USCIS approves the application. It is often an emotional occasion, as newly declared citizens are given small U.S. flags and take photographs with their families to celebrate a new chapter in their lives.
“It’s one step removed from denaturalizing someone. Literally, you receive your naturalization certificate at these ceremonies,” Breslow says. “And so the act of pulling the rug out from under people at this point in the process is just unspeakably cruel.”
Hasan Shafiqullah, Supervising Attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit, says that although this is likely “just a pause” on naturalization, and not a denial of these cases “straight out,” the chaos and fear are clear, and it can leave these prospective citizens in “limbo” for an extended period of time.
“The stakes are very high, and what immigrants get from these oath ceremonies are considerable,” Shafiqullah says. After the ceremony, citizens can apply for a U.S. passport and for their parents, siblings, and fiancé to come to the United States. It also prevents deportation. Although their cases could be reopened and rescheduled after vetting, or potentially reopened under a “friendlier” Administration, the damage is “incredibly problematic,” he adds.
These legal aid groups make clear that this is not an isolated incident that discourages people from becoming citizens, but rather another move in a series of moves from the Trump Administration that targets not just “illegal immigration” that it has claimed to focus its immigration enforcement efforts on, but legal pathways altogether, especially this fall.
As of October, USCIS requires all application fees to be paid via electronic payments, even though, by its own estimates, over 90% of USCIS payments are made by check or money order. USCIS announced in September that the civics exam required for naturalization will be more complex and more subjective, a month after the Administration introduced more stringent criteria for assessing “good moral character” in citizenship applications.
“It’s been one thing after the other to discourage people and to thwart their efforts to become U.S. citizens,” Breslow says.
Allison Cutler, Supervising Attorney for New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)’s Immigrant Protection Unit, notes that cancellations have been happening for months for their green card applicants, a move that she says leaves her clients in an even more vulnerable position.
“When you have a naturalization ceremony that’s canceled, you’re still in the exact situation that you were before, right? You still have your green card and you’re eligible to reapply for citizenship in the future,” she says. “But for these green card interviews, it’s different. It leaves them in a more vulnerable situation legally, where it actually allows ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to more easily reopen your case before the judge.”
Shafiqullah says that although the ceremony cancellations have been in direct response to the National Guard shooting, he believes the new restrictions have “nothing to do with the shooting,” and more to do with the expressed denaturalization priorities of the Administration:
“I think all these policies were pre-written and sitting on a shelf waiting for the perfect pretext, and the shooting gave them the pretext to roll all these things out.”
