The Trump administration is revising citizenship tests to ensure immigrants can read, write, speak English, and understand U.S. civics before naturalizing.
“American citizenship is the most sacred citizenship in the world and should only be reserved for aliens who will fully embrace our values and principles as a nation,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser said Wednesday. He noted that the changes are so that “the American people can be assured that those joining us as fellow citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to America’s greatness.”
In late 2020, USCIS expanded the Naturalization Civics Test from 10 to 20 questions, requiring 12 correct answers to pass—unchanged from the old standard. The question pool grew from 100 to 128, and the more extended test was used from December 2020 to April 2021.
However, the Biden administration reverted to the easier version, claiming that the 20-question test “may inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process.” It said the move was part of former President Biden’s “Executive Order on Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems.”
A Federal Register notice said the prior test changes lacked supporting data and were in place too briefly to be valid. The Biden administration rolled back the revisions as immigration surged. Under Trump, the test was conducted orally, ended after 12 correct answers, and study materials were posted online.
“Demonstration of English and civics knowledge is essential to showing an alien’s commitment to fulfill the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship and to actively assimilate into American society,” the notice read. “Understanding the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, engaging with the government, and fully contributing to the democratic process all rely on a basic understanding of U.S. government and civics. Further, knowledge of U.S. government and civics enables naturalized citizens to more fully engage with local and federal government agencies and be active and responsible members of their local communities, furthering the success of our democracy.”
USCIS said the civics test is just the first of many updates, including tougher vetting of immigrants, stricter reviews of disability exemptions, and closer scrutiny of applicants’ moral character. Officers are now directed to weigh positive contributions and review social media to ensure applicants aren’t promoting terrorism.
For example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated the Trump administration will revoke or deny visas to foreigners who celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“We should not be giving visas to people who are going to come to the United States and do things like celebrate the murder, the execution, the assassination of a political figure. We should not,” said Rubio. “And if they’re already here, we should be revoking their visa.”
