September 7, 2025

Trumpites may require essays from those seeking citizenship

 Axios - The Trump administration is planning to make the test to become a U.S. citizen more difficult, possibly with an essay requirement that would help give officials wide discretion on which immigrants are approved...

  • As President Trump pushes for mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants, his team also wants to narrow pathways to legal immigration — a plan that's already drawing criticism from immigration advocates.

The essay plan is emerging days after administration officials said they would apply increased scrutiny on whether citizenship applicants meet a standard for "good moral character."

  • Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said the current citizenship exam is too easy to pass.  "Ultimately, what I'd like to see is moving to a standardized test where an applicant goes beforehand to a testing center, answers the questions, we'll get a sense of whether they understand what's going on," he said, as opposed to the current 10-question civics test.
  • Edlow also envisions an essay question on a subject such as, "What does it mean to be an American?" or "Who was your favorite founding father?" — "or something that is going to really show an attachment to the Constitution."  Read on.

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