In October, 2019, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced changes to the naturalization process that would present significant barriers to citizenship for tens of thousands of non-wealthy applicants each year.
If permitted to go into effect, the new rules would make it much harder to qualify for a fee waiver, and would severely curtail naturalization applications, particularly from low-income applicants. Recent research from Stanford University’s Immigration Policy Lab suggests that the new rules could have reduced the number of naturalization applications filed each year by as much as 10 percent.
On October 30, 2019, Protect Democracy, Advancing Justice-AAJC, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, and Mayer Brown LLP filed suit in California on behalf of organizations and communities who will be irreparably harmed by the proposed changes to the naturalization process.