A Trump administration official has suggested the U.S. citizenship test is “just too easy.”
At a conference hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks lower levels of immigration, Joseph Edlow, director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said he was “declaring war on fraud” in the naturalization process.
“Simply put, I want to see the naturalization process returned to where I believe it should have been,” Edlow said. “Frankly, this test is just too easy. Six out of 10 questions right now is what people have to get right.”
Edlow did not specify how the test—which tests for civic knowledge and English-language competency—might be revised, but suggested competencies it should gauge.
“We’re looking for attachment to the Constitution. We’re looking for an understanding of the civic responsibility of being a U.S. citizen,” he added. “We’re looking for actual understanding and ability to read and speak and write the English language.”
His remarks come after USCIS said it plans to revive a Bush-era practice of interviewing an applicant’s neighbors and coworkers, according to an August 22 memo.
A 2018 survey from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars estimated that just 36 percent of Americans themselves could pass this multiple-choice part of the exam.
Prosecution for citizenship fraud has historically been rare. According to the National Immigration Forum, between 1990 and 2017, the U.S. averaged just 11 denaturalization cases per year. In Trump’s first term, that average shot up to 42 per year.
Trump has vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in what he said would be “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
AFP via Getty Images
Making good on that promise, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted extensive raids across the country over the last eight months, including raids in Los Angeles in June that prompted mass protests. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has set a goal of 3,000 immigration arrests per day.
As of the end of July, ICE had deported nearly 200,000 people, which is on track to be the highest level in a decade, according to a senior Homeland Security official, per CNN. President Barack Obama deported 316,000 people in 2014, the existing record.
Politico reports that the administration is eyeing conducting raids in Boston and Chicago in September.
The Daily Beast reached out to USCIS for comment.
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