{"id":736673,"date":"2026-07-01T10:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736673\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:07:10","slug":"becoming-a-u-s-citizen-changes-much-more-than-legal-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736673\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a U.S. citizen changes much more than legal status"},"content":{"rendered":"

My favorite day of the year is in the spring, when hundreds of aspiring U.S. citizens gather at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury to complete their citizenship applications. Hosted by the City of Boston and Project Citizenship<\/a>,\u00a0Boston Citizenship Day is\u00a0a joyful event when immigrants from all over the world embark on the last stage of\u00a0a journey, with support from volunteers, pro bono attorneys and immigration professionals, that has been years (if not decades) in the making.<\/p>\n

One of these\u00a0aspiring citizens\u00a0is a man named Shu Sing Paul Wong. He moved to Boston from Hong Kong more than a decade ago to care for his aging parents.\u00a0Now in his mid-60s and working as an educator, he attended last year\u2019s Boston Citizenship Day along with his wife and daughter.\u00a0Today, all three are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

“We’re so excited,” Paul (his preferred name) shared. “Now we can live here, work here, and serve our communities. We’re full of hope…for the future.”<\/p>\n

As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, Paul’s story should feel familiar. While indigenous people\u00a0have long\u00a0stewarded this land we call America, every other American family has an immigration story of their own.<\/p>\n

Some arrived seeking safety, opportunity, or freedom; mine fled the pogroms in Russia in the early years of the last century. Others were forced here through enslavement. Together, these histories shape the diverse nation we share. Over the past decade alone, more than 240,000 Massachusetts residents<\/a> have chosen to become U.S. citizens, deepening their commitment to the country they already call home.<\/p>\n

Yet, at precisely the moment we should be celebrating\u00a0what it means to be an American and the benefits of citizenship,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0becoming harder to\u00a0attain.<\/p>\n

In the past year, the Trump administration has introduced aggressive anti-immigrant policies that make becoming a citizen increasingly inaccessible.<\/p>\n

The administration established a longer civics exam and broader, more subjective standards for evaluating an applicant\u2019s \u201cgood moral character<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

They abruptly halted interviews, oath ceremonies and application processing for people born in 39 designated “high-risk” countries<\/a> (a policy that a Rhode Island judge<\/a> has ruled unlawful, though the administration plans to appeal).<\/p>\n

And in June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proposed raising the naturalization application fee<\/a>\u00a0by a whopping 75%, from $760 to $1,330, and eliminating the fee waivers that have historically enabled immigrants with low incomes to apply. For our clients at Project Citizenship, 70% of whom are from low-income households, this change will place U.S. citizenship squarely out of reach. It\u2019s a cruel move at a time of economic hardship across America.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A volunteer for Project Citizenship assists a woman applying to be a citizen of the United States at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury on May 2, 2026. (Courtesy Boston Citizenship)<\/p>\n

The effects of these policies are acutely evident here in Massachusetts. At this year’s Boston Citizenship Day, I was dismayed to see attendance down 50% from the year before, falling from 316 participants to 158. It was still an inspiring day with immigrants from 56 different countries, but the number of people who registered \u2014 and didn\u2019t attend \u2014 nearly doubled.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0understandable.\u00a0Some fear that attending a public citizenship event could expose them or their loved ones to immigration enforcement. Others worry that applying for citizenship will invite scrutiny from a government that has made immigrants feel\u00a0unsafe and\u00a0unwelcome. Still others question whether\u00a0it’s\u00a0worth applying at all if their case could be delayed indefinitely because of where they were born.\u00a0And it\u2019s worth remembering that the people we serve are all living in the U.S. legally.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this trend is not just a loss for these aspiring citizens and their families, but for all of us. Becoming a U.S. citizen means more than a change in legal status. It provides the security to build a future, the right to vote, freedom to travel, protection against deportation, and the opportunity to fully participate in the civic life of the communities immigrants already call home. When barriers make citizenship significantly harder to attain for people from diverse backgrounds and economic statuses, our democracy is weaker for it.<\/p>\n

What gives me comfort at this devastating time is the local outpouring of support. Boston Citizenship Day is just one example \u2014 most of this year\u2019s 200+ volunteer spots were filled in 45 minutes. As one volunteer told me:<\/p>\n

When I volunteer at Boston Citizenship Day, I see myself in every person I help. I sit beside applicants as they work through complex forms, answer their questions, and try to ease the same fears I once had. In those moments, it\u2019s not just about completing an application \u2014 it\u2019s about reassurance, dignity, and hope.<\/p>\n

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, we should ask whether our government\u2019s actions reflect the values we so proudly commemorate. The Supreme Court\u2019s catastrophic ruling last week ending TPS for Haitians and Syrians<\/a> is just the latest example. Immigrants seeking citizenship today are our neighbors, coworkers, family members and friends. They have built their lives here, raised families here, contributed to our economy and met every legal requirement to become U.S. citizens. They deserve a pathway to citizenship that is fair, transparent and accessible, not one defined by cruel and discriminatory barriers.<\/p>\n

We like to think we are a nation that offers opportunity and belonging to others, that welcomes people like Paul and his family, a place that stands for \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d But these ideals mean little if they are not upheld in practice.<\/p>\n

At moments like this, defending these promises requires action. This includes standing with immigrants on July Fourth and every day, and refusing to tolerate attempts to weaken our democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My favorite day of the year is in the spring, when hundreds of aspiring U.S. citizens gather at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-736673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}