WASHINGTON, CMC – United States legislators have condemned the Donald Trump administration for cancelling immigration applications and citizenship ceremonies for Caribbean and other immigrants.
Congressional Representatives Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Immigration, Security, Integrity and Enforcement, and Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher of Texas have criticised the decision and are demanding answers after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would indefinitely pause the immigration process for nationals from the countries listed in Trump’s travel ban.
“Without clarity on how long this broad pause will last, soon-to-be citizens will be left in limbo for perpetuity, and families will be forced to remain separated,” they wrote in a letter to Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Joseph B. Edlow, director of USCIS. DHS oversees USCIS.
“What is clear is that no amount of vetting, moral character, or commitment to this country and its democratic values is enough to satiate the Trump administration,” they added, stating that, “based solely on immigrants’ country of origin, Trump’s USCIS is both pausing and canceling green card interviews, applications, naturalization interviews, and even oath ceremonies for immigrants who have completed rigorous vetting and have secured citizenship.
“These are people who have followed every process and undergone extensive and repeated vetting to secure legal status. These naturalization ceremonies are a time of celebration, as soon-to-be US citizens welcome their friends and family to witness their achievement of US citizenship. To deny this monumental achievement to those who have waited years, if not decades, to pledge the Oath of Allegiance,” the two US legislators added.
They said delaying their naturalization, through no fault of their own, is a slap in the face to all those who have devoted their time and energy to becoming US citizens.
“This sweeping action is unjustified, discriminatory, and inconsistent with our nation’s founding principles.”
The legislators are demanding answers on the timeline for lifting the pause, any new background and security checks being conducted in the meantime, and a full report to the US Congress.
Several Democrats, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also signed the letter.
Separately, Jayapal has condemned a new guidance issued by the Trump administration requiring USCIS to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” to increase denaturalization of Caribbean and other immigrants.
“I am absolutely outraged by the Trump administration’s plan to denaturalize American citizens by the hundreds every single month and use the immigration system to terrorize immigrants across this country, including US citizens,” she said.
According to reports, there have been just over 120 denaturalization cases filed between 2017 and now.
“These arbitrary numerical targets Trump has put out show that he is using the immigration system to go after anyone who disagrees with him, anyone who comes from countries he doesn’t like or decides to call ‘shithole’ countries, anyone he wants to terrorize into submission,” Jayapal said.
She said Trump’s campaign of terror has never been about going after the ‘worst of the worst,’ and this latest move makes that crystal clear.
“Every US citizen should be outraged by this. If he can do this to ‘them,’ he can certainly do it to you. As a proud naturalized citizen myself, one of only two dozen to serve in the United States Congress and now the top Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee, I understand the deep meaning and privilege of becoming a US citizen.
“I came to this country when I was 16, alone, and with nothing in my pockets, and spent 17 years on an alphabet soup of visas before becoming a US citizen. I treasure that moment to this day and take my oath seriously to this country — as so many millions of naturalized citizens do,” Jayapal said.
Earlier this month, the San Diego, California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) “unequivocally” condemned Trump’s latest barrage of anti-Black, anti-immigrant attacks, including his recent remarks referring to Somali immigrants as “garbage” and asserting that the US “does not want them in our country.”
“His rhetoric, reported widely in national media, is not simply insulting—it constitutes state-sanctioned dehumanization and reinforces a longstanding pattern of xenophobic and white-nationalist policymaking,” HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
She noted that, in his first term, Trump had referred to Haiti and African nations as “shit hole countries.”
“This is structural, intentional, and violent,” Jozef said. “Haitian Bridge stands firmly with Somalis, Haitians, Africans, Muslims, and all Global South communities targeted by this escalating campaign of discrimination.
Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke also condemned what she described as Trump’s “racist attack” on Somalia-born Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
“Between falling asleep in his own Cabinet meeting, President Trump somehow finds the time to launch hateful attacks against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants in Minnesota,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, told CMC.
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