The Trump administration is stepping up efforts to curb legal immigration, taking a series of actions in recent weeks that could lead to deportation for people who already have citizenship.
The director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told The Associated Press recently that the agency is hiring dozens of lawyers and immigration officers to review cases of immigrants who are suspected of having lied to officials during the naturalization process.
The office made public on July 5 a memo announcing its plan to start issuing notices to appear for a wider range of cases. The agency said starting Sept. 11 its adjudicators will have the ability to outright deny applications that are missing information, that is a departure from an Obama-era policy of sending requests for more evidence or issuing a warning of their intent to deny the application.
The changes highlight how Trump officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House adviser Stephen Miller, aren’t just seeking to curtail illegal immigration, but are also taking steps against naturalized citizens in an effort to reduce the number of foreign-born residents in the U.S. USCIS says the policy changes are an effort to ensure the nation’s immigration laws are faithfully executed to keep communities safe and secure.
Michael Bars, an agency spokesman, said in a statement to that immigrants can always file an appeal when a benefit is denied. “The truth is that many open borders advocates believe the U.S. should turn a blind eye to cases of illegal immigration, fraud, human trafficking, gang activity and drug proliferation at the expense of public safety and the integrity of our laws,” Bars said.
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