Tag Archives: citizenship

CBS News reports: A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked President Trump’s administration from implementing portions of his executive order that imposed new requirements involving proof of citizenship to register to vote in U.S. elections. U.S. District Judge Denise Casper agreed to grant a preliminary injunction sought by attorneys general from 19 states, who brought their legal challenge to Mr. Trump’s …

Politico reports: Former first lady Melania Trump is slated to be the honored guest speaker today at a naturalization ceremony for new citizens in the rotunda of the Archives’ headquarters. It is, to put it mildly, an unusual billing. How did it happen that a resident of the same Mar-a-Lago estate whose bathrooms were used to store thousands of allegedly …

CBS News reports: Nearly a million immigrant adults were naturalized as American citizens in fiscal year 2022, the third-highest annual tally recorded in U.S. history, according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report obtained by CBS News. In the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 967,400 adults swore the oath of allegiance at naturalization ceremonies across the country, …

Oklahoma City’s ABC News affiliate reports: It was lunchtime at Prairie Vale Elementary School when cafeteria manager Yanet Vilamontes Lopez and her team were preparing chicken nuggets for the young students. An immigrant from Cuba, Lopez moved to Oklahoma from Houston a few years ago with her family for better job opportunities. It was a dream that was fulfilled Monday. …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden is thanking naturalized Americans for “choosing us” in his official video message to the nation’s newest citizens. In the brief remarks, Biden references the “courage” of immigrants coming to the U.S. and his own heritage as a descendant of Irish immigrants. He also praises the contribution they will make to American society. “First …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration confirmed Monday that it will scrap the Trump administration’s changes to the U.S. citizenship test, which made the exam longer and more difficult. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will revert back to using an exam created in 2008, the agency said in a policy alert. Immigrants must pass an English proficiency test and a civics …

Reuters reports: Britain is prepared to offer extended visa rights and a pathway to citizenship for almost 3 million Hong Kong residents in response to China’s push to impose national security legislation in the former British colony. Foreign minister Dominic Raab [photo] said on Thursday that if Beijing went ahead, Britain would extend the rights of 350,000 ‘British National Overseas’ …

NPR reports: You will not find a citizenship question on the 2020 census forms. But in the months since federal courts permanently blocked the Trump administration from asking the hotly-contested question for this year’s national head count, the administration has been pushing ahead with a backup plan — amassing government records to try to determine the U.S. citizenship status of …

Just in via press release: The Department of Justice today announced the creation of a section dedicated to investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization. The Denaturalization Section will join the existing sections within the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation—the District Court Section and the Appellate Section. This move underscores the Department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, …

Politico reports: In response to widespread fear among immigrants and activists over the Trump administration’s failed drive to put a question about citizenship status on the 2020 census, the Census Bureau is investing millions of dollars in an advertising campaign underlining the fact that participants’ information will not be shared with local or federal authorities. The handful of citizenship-focused advertisements …

The Associated Press reports: The Department of Homeland Security is agreeing to share citizenship information with the U.S. Census Bureau as part of President Donald Trump’s order to collect data on who is a citizen following the Supreme Court’s rejection of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census form. Trump’s order is being challenged in federal court, but meanwhile, the …

Reuters reports: Demonstrators in eastern India set fire to more than a dozen buses and vandalized at least six railway stations on Saturday, as violent protests against a new citizenship law continued for a fourth straight day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the new law will save religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians from persecution in neighboring Bangladesh, …

NPR reports: The Trump administration is planning changes to the U.S. citizenship test. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it is revising the test to ensure that “it continues to serve as an accurate measure of a naturalization applicant’s civics knowledge.” The test was introduced in 1986 and last revised in 2008. In a USCIS statement, acting Director Ken …

Raw Story reports: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Dept. of Commerce v. New York, where the state of New York sued over the question the Trump administration placed on the census asking about legal citizenship. The Court decided that they agreed with lower court decisions and that the reason for putting the question on the census was “invalid.” …

NPR reports: Dirty words make it to the U.S. Supreme Court only occasionally. One of those occasions came Monday, in a case involving a clothing line named “FUCT.” The issue is whether the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office acted unconstitutionally when it refused to grant trademark protection to the brand name. And, for the justices, the immediate problem was how …

The Associated Press reports: Conservative Supreme Court justices were mostly silent Tuesday as a Trump administration lawyer defended the government’s plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, an indication the court’s majority may be inclined to side with the administration. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s only Hispanic justice, told Solicitor General Noel Francisco that the result of adding …

Courthouse News reports: The Trump administration’s push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census suffered a major setback late Wednesday when a federal judge issued a second nationwide injunction against the policy, finding it would “threaten the very foundation of our democracy.” U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg is the second federal judge in less than two months to …

Axios reports: A majority of Americans in every state except Vermont would fail a test based on the questions in the U.S. citizenship test, according to a survey by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. It suggests most Americans can’t live up to the standards we set for people applying to be U.S. citizens — and we set those standards …

Talking Points Memo reports: In what could be a major change for voting rights and the distribution of political power between urban and rural areas, the Census Bureau signaled Friday that it is willing to work with state and local officials charged with drawing voting districts if they want citizenship data for the redistricting process. The move to inject citizenship …

The Washington Examiner reports: Just a third of Americans can pass a multiple choice “U.S. Citizenship Test,” fumbling over such simple questions as the cause of the Cold War or naming just one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for. And of Americans 45 and younger, the passing rate is a tiny 19 percent, according to a survey done for the …