FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2026

CONTACT: Rachel Dupree, [email protected] 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released its quarterly data for July-September 2025, showing increased denials and delays throughout the naturalization process, undermining access to citizenship. As eligible applicants confront these barriers, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) expresses deep concern over declining naturalization rates as a direct result of restrictive, anti-immigrant policies implemented since the beginning of President Trump’s second term—including stricter “good moral character” standards, a harder civics exam, and discretionary denials.

According to an analysis by NPNA and the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, USCIS data illustrate this administration’s efforts to restrict access to citizenship. Between the final year of the Biden administration and the first year of the Trump administration, the data reveal the following:

• Fewer applications: There have been 60,799 fewer naturalization applications submitted to USCIS. 
• Decreased approvals: Naturalization approvals dropped by 44,041 cases. At the same time, the denial rate increased from 8.9% under Biden to 10.5% under Trump, resulting in denials rising by 8,945.
• Sweeping delays: Naturalization application processing times have slowed, growing from an average of 6.1 months under Biden to 6.6 months under Trump. This mirrors the delays during the first Trump administration, when median naturalization processing times went from 5.2 months in fiscal year 2016 to 10 months in fiscal year 2019.

Said Dr. Tom Wong, director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, San Diego, “As we get deeper into the second Trump administration, a troubling trend is becoming increasingly clear: the growing denials of naturalization applications that we saw early on in the second Trump administration are not random. They are by design. Denial rates were decreasing during the last year of the Biden administration, but they have statistically and significantly increased during the first year of the Trump administration. This means an estimated 32,420 fewer people have become American citizens under Trump’s second term.”

Said Alexandra Olins, director of employment and citizenship at Asian Counseling and Referral Services (ARCS), “From January through March 2025, USCIS scheduled 151 initial interviews for ACRS naturalization clients. During the same period in 2026, USCIS scheduled just two initial interviews—a 99 percent decrease. This slowdown is taking a real toll on people’s lives, leaving clients who have waited years and followed the law unable to move forward with jobs, travel, and peace of mind. These changes at USCIS are unprecedented and unwarranted.”

Said Nicole Melaku, NPNA executive director, “One of our most patriotic acts—becoming a U.S. citizen through naturalization—continues to be under attack. By increasing denials, erecting undue barriers to approval, and prolonging processing times of naturalization applications, this administration is barring eligible individuals from the most permanent protection against detention and deportation. Ultimately, this will lead to a chilling effect for people seeking citizenship, stifling the ability of eligible people to fully participate in the civic process. Alongside the GOP’s proposed voter suppression legislation, this administration continues its systematic efforts designed to suppress the vote of America’s highly motivated, naturalized voter population during a consequential midterm election year.

“As a coalition of the nation’s largest immigrant and refugee rights organizations, we say loudly that our democracy is for everyone. All people who have come to call the United States home, who are eligible to naturalize, or who have already naturalized, should not be detoured from accessing our civic process. Congress must prioritize legislative solutions that protect people’s voting rights and defend access to citizenship.”

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The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a multi-ethnic, multiracial coalition of over 70 of the nation’s largest immigrant and refugee rights organizations with reach across over 40 states. Together with our members, we advance immigrant and refugee equity and inclusion, build and expand immigration legal services and integration programming capacity, and drive campaigns that strengthen democracy through increased civic participation. See our website for more information at partnershipfornewamericans.org.