There are approximately 25 million foreign-born individuals in the U.S. who are naturalized citizens. The country naturalized roughly 8 million citizens over the past decade. Last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services welcomed 815,500 new citizens during naturalization ceremonies.
To successfully secure U.S. citizenship, these individuals had to evidence GMC — “good moral character” — especially in the five years immediately preceding the filing of their applications.
‘USCIS officers must account for an alien’s positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct.’
Up until this month, GMC meant not having a record of certain criminal offenses — such as a murder conviction or an aggravated felony conviction — or of disqualifying conduct such as taking part in prostitution or commercialized vice, practicing polygamy, earning a living off of illegal gambling activities, failing to support dependents, or being a drunkard.
The Trump administration is taking steps to ensure that prospective citizens aren’t just meeting the bare minimum for civility but are actually poised to make a positive contribution.
The USCIS issued a new policy on Friday in a memo titled “Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character Evaluation Standard for Aliens Applying for Naturalization” that instructs officers to consider positive behavior along with possible disqualifying behavior.
“Becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen means being an active and responsible member of society instead of just having a right to live and work in the United States,” the memo reads. “Evaluating GMC involves more than a cursory mechanical review focused on the absence of wrongdoing. It entails a holistic assessment of an alien’s behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character.”
The memo noted that prior to the early 1990s, Immigration and Naturalization Service officers would consider felony convictions and other bars “as the minimum disqualifiers, not as exclusive criteria. Officers considered rehabilitative evidence, volunteer service, family responsibilities, and other positive traits in weighing GMC.”
However, the minimum disqualifiers became over time a “firm checklist that equated GMC with the absence of statutory disqualifications rather than the presence of positive moral conduct and character.”
‘It should only be offered to the world’s best of the best.’
The new policy indicates that an alien may lack GMC even if he or she has not committed one of the disqualifying acts, that “USCIS officers must account for an alien’s positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct.”
Before granting or denying naturalization, officers will now consider various positive factors including educational attainment; family care-giving and ties in the U.S.; stable and lawful employment history and achievements; compliance with tax obligations; financial responsibility in the U.S.; and sustained community involvement and contributions.
In addition to looking for positive factors, officers will also apply greater scrutiny when looking at possible disqualifying behavior.
Applicants can now also be disqualified for unlawful voter registration, unlawful voting, convictions for driving under the influence, drug violations, reckless or habitual traffic infractions, and harassment.
When pressed for comment, the White House referred Blaze News to USCIS.
USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement, “U.S. citizenship is the gold standard of citizenship — it should only be offered to the world’s best of the best.”
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