The Immigration and Nationality Act provides an expedited path to citizenship for non-citizens serving in the U.S. military. In 2017, President Trump’s Secretary of Defense implemented a new internal policy which made the expedited naturalization process lengthier and more difficult. Objecting to this new policy, 6 non-citizen service members, represented by the ACLU, ACLU of Southern California, and ACLU of the District of Columbia, filed this class action against the Secretary and Department of Defense on April 28, 2020. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and assigned to Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, alleged that the Department’s policy violated both the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. §§553, 706) and the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. §1440). They sought a declaration (under 28 U.S.C. §§2201-2202) that the Department’s policy was illegal, and injunctive relief (under 5 U.S.C. §702) preventing the Department from implementing the new policy.

The plaintiffs alleged that de-expedited naturalization process injured them in several ways, including: ineligibility for promotion to military positions available to citizens; denial of access to consular services while deployed overseas; and inability to sponsor family members seeking to immigrate.

The plaintiffs sought certification as a class of “All individuals who:
(a) are non-citizens serving honorably in the U.S. military;
(b) have requested but not received a certified [Department of Defense] Form N-426; and
(c) are not…covered by [Kirwa v. U.S. Dep’t of Def., 285 F. Supp. 3d 21 (D.D.C. 2017)].”

Along with the complaint, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and for summary judgment. The defendants likewise moved for summary judgment on May 22, 2020. As of June 8, 2020, all motions are pending.

Gregory Marsh - 06/08/2020


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