New U.S. citizens take part in a naturalization ceremony at Faneuil Hall in Boston on Jan. 8. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Johanan Rivera had long hesitated to become a U.S. citizen, worried it would dilute his connection to Mexico. After 15 years as a permanent resident, he applied in February 2025 and took the oath about a year later. Rivera said the return of the Trump administration made him and his partner seek greater certainty about living together in the U.S., pushing him to naturalize.
Newly released USCIS data show 2025 was a turbulent year for naturalization applications and approvals. Early in the year, applications and approvals surged; later, both fell sharply. Immigration experts say the shifts reflect how the administration’s stricter immigration policies, heightened enforcement and added vetting have affected people nearing the end of their legal immigration path.
During the first months of Trump’s second term, USCIS approved a record number of naturalizations. At one peak in 2025, 88,488 applications were approved in a single month — the highest monthly total tracked since USCIS began reporting month-by-month data in 2022. But by January 2026 approvals had dropped to 32,862, the lowest on record in that series.
Applications also swung dramatically. October 2025 saw 169,159 people apply to naturalize; the next month only 41,478 applied. Experts say political messaging and policy shifts likely drove the early rush and the later pullback.
“The fear is pretty pervasive,” said Felicia Escobar Carrillo, former USCIS chief of staff under the Biden administration. Margy O’Herron of the Brennan Center said the administration appears intent on more tightly defining who qualifies as American, and that granting citizenship is being treated as something to control. Nicole Melaku of the National Partnership for New Americans argued the data suggest the administration is slowing or denying opportunities to naturalize.
USCIS told NPR it is pausing decisions for applicants from high-risk countries and adding screening measures: reintroducing the 2020 civics test for 2025, tougher English requirements, social media checks for “anti-American activities,” and neighborhood investigations to confirm good moral character and attachment to the Constitution. USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said the agency “will not take shortcuts in the adjudications process.” Director Joseph Edlow framed changes as restoring “order, security, integrity, and accountability” to immigration services.
Political anxiety appears to have prompted many to apply early in 2025. Theresa Cardinal Brown, an immigration consultant and fellow at Cornell Law School and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, noted that from February through April 2025 some 270,290 people filed naturalization applications. With campaign rhetoric promising mass deportations, eligible immigrants who had not felt urgency before moved to secure citizenship.
But the second half of 2025 brought volatility. In August USCIS announced stricter evaluations of “good moral character,” emphasizing both positive contributions and greater scrutiny of disqualifying behavior. In September the agency unveiled plans for a longer, tougher citizenship test and reinstated neighborhood checks — an investigatory practice largely unused since 1991. Officials and former staff said those measures are labor-intensive and likely slow processing.
Those announcements may have prompted a late-2025 surge in applications from people trying to apply before new rules took effect; October’s 169,159 applications set a four-year record. Yet approvals dropped sharply that month, from over 70,000 to 58,692, and continued to fall into year’s end. Monthly completions (approvals plus denials) fell from 78,379 in September 2025 to 37,832 by January 2026.
The decline is also tied to targeted pauses and restrictions. The administration suspended certain immigration processes, including naturalizations, for people from 39 countries and for holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents. The pause followed an attack in late November by an Afghan national accused of killing a National Guard member in Washington, D.C.; the suspect was later charged with murder.
By November 2025, new applications had dropped to 41,478; December saw 42,569 and January 2026 edged up to 46,385 — roughly half the applicant volume from the prior year. USCIS declined to comment on why fewer people applied.
Local officials report this decline is driven by fear and distrust. Gianina Horton, an Aurora, Colo., city council member, said residents eligible for naturalization are opting out, worried about interacting with federal agencies amid rhetoric painting some cities as overwhelmed by migrants and threats of deportation. “There is an understanding that we’re in a political climate where it is unsafe for a lot of immigrants to engage with federal agencies,” she said. People weigh the risk of putting their names into government systems that could draw attention.
Some immigrants already in the process found the end of their journey disrupted. In December and into 2026, some were barred from scheduled citizenship ceremonies — the final step where applicants take the oath. Critics say the administration is changing expectations for people who have followed rules, creating unpredictability and fear that discourages engagement with the system.
Daniel Chigirinsky, from Hungary, applied in spring 2025 and became a citizen in March. He described his naturalization interview as terrifying while the process was being altered, even though he had no concerns about his own eligibility. Others, like Rivera, persisted and completed naturalization despite the climate of uncertainty.
Overall, 2025’s spikes and plunges in naturalization applications and approvals illustrate how policy shifts and rhetoric can quickly reshape immigrant behavior and the functioning of the citizenship process. New rules, pauses for certain nationalities and increased investigative steps have combined to slow completions and deter some eligible people from applying, leaving immigration advocates and former officials warning that confidence in the system is eroding.