July 20th, 2019
By Shannon Van Sant, NPR
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 Cuccinelli said, “Updating, maintaining, and improving a test that is current and relevant is our responsibility as an agency in order to help potential new citizens fully understand the meaning of U.S. citizenship and the values that unite all Americans.”
Since assuming office, President Trump has attempted to implement broad changes to U.S. immigration laws and policies. Last week, the Trump administration announced a new rule requiring asylum-seekers to first apply for asylum in at least one country they pass through on their journey to the U.S.
The administration has also argued for a citizenship question to be added to the 2020 census. NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang and Franco Ordonez reported on Trump’s recent decision to drop those efforts. Instead, they wrote, Trump announced he “would sign an executive order to obtain data about the U.S. citizenship and noncitizenship status of everyone living in the United States.”