The Trump administration is preparing to overhaul the "too easy" U.S. citizenship test, aiming to make the process more rigorous in a long-running promise by President Donald Trump to bring "extreme vetting" to American immigration.
"Ultimately, what I'd like to see is moving to a standardized test where an applicant goes beforehand to a testing center, answers the questions, we'll get a sense of whether they understand what's going on," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow told Axios.
The current 10-question civics test is just "too easy," leaving open the potential for vulnerabilities in American immigration, according to Edlow.
"We're looking for actual understanding and ability to read and speak and write the English language; and, frankly, this test is just too easy: Six out of 10 questions right now is what people have to get right," Edlow said earlier this week.
An essay-style written test could ask, he added to Axios: "What does it mean to be an American?"; "Who was your favorite founding father?"; "or something that is going to really show an attachment to the Constitution."
"The bottom line is we need a naturalization test that ensures immigrants truly understand and embrace the responsibilities of American citizenship."
The redesign is hoping to come forward soon, barring obstruction from anti-Trump forces seeking to stop progress on American immigration reform.
Speaking at a Center for Immigration Studies event in Washington, D.C., Edlow said he was "declaring war on fraud" in the naturalization process.
USCIS has also issued new guidance on evaluating English proficiency and determining "good moral character" — factors that already form part of immigration law but now give adjudicators more discretion.
"In terms of looking at good moral character, there are a lot of factors, and it's absolutely not a clear black and white line as to what is or what is not considered good moral character," Edlow said.
"We are just giving additional examples so that the adjudicators know kind of what to be looking for that is absolutely within their jurisdiction."
Edlow has already referred multiple cases for denaturalization to the Justice Department, with more referrals expected.
"We are a law enforcement agency," he said. "We are making a law enforcement decision when it comes to immigration enforcement."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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