(Angela Banks) The naturalizati doesn't just allow anybody who wants to be a US citizen to walk up to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office and say, "Hi, I'd like to become a US citizen.

Where do I sign?"

(David Sundland) The only thing earn my citizenship was I was b same is true of my parents, same is true of my grandparents and my great-grandparents.

And I think too few people appreciate that the naturalization process is far more challenging today than it was a decade ago, 20 years ago, and certainly more, you know, generations ago.

(Karime Rodriguez)- You have to through many processes, many applications, many years, and a lot of money in order to even have the chance to apply because you could always be denied, you could always have to reapply.

So that is one of the biggest misconceptions.

This process is not easy, and it's not granted to everybody equally.

(intriguing orchestral music) Good morning!

(chuckles) - Good morning!

- My name is Karime Rodriguez, and I am a Community Organizer in Phoenix, Arizona, and a Services Manager at the Arizona Center for Empowerment.

We have various pictures here just showing some of the projects that we've done throughout the years.

This one here is actually Citizenship Day 2024, where we had a lot of members coming together to share their experience.

We had a member roundtable, so folks that had already naturalized and gone through our courses came back and talked to the new folks about what their experience was like, how their interview went, just to kind of ease the nerves.

I see a lot of motivation in our community to become citizens, first, for a more permanent protection, I think especially in the climate that we're living in right now, people really want to have something that is more stable, that you don't have to continue to renew like your residency.

So your citizenship really gives you much more security, and also folks are really motivated to be able to vote; many times people have been here for decades and have never been able to exercise that right and have a voice in the democratic process that makes up the decisions that they have to live through every day.

And the third motivation I would say is family-related.

A lot of people want to naturalize so they can help more family members naturalize, and, again, just be part of the community that they've been a part of for many years already.

I think even my own motivations to naturalize really lie within that as well.

My family and I moved to the US when I was two.

I was undocumented from the moment that I came into the country.

As a young adult, I was a DACA recipient, which is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and that allowed me a work permit, a Social Security card, and a driver's license.

So that really changed my life.

Later on in life, I met my love, I met my husband, and when we got married, I was able to apply for my green card for residency.

Personally, I want to become a citizen because I have a civic duty to vote and make my voice heard, that's one of my biggest driving factors is that I want to vote.

And I do want that stability as well.

I don't want to continue to be on a conditional green card in this country any longer.

Having had DACA and having to renew every two years, I just don't want that instability anymore.

I've been here for 26 years, and this is the country where I want to live in for the rest of my life, and in order for me to do that, I need to become a citizen.

- So I give the overview of the citizenship test, but is this their last step in the process when they're... It's all in one interview, right?

(Grace Vaughan) Yeah, they're go to have one interview during which they'll be asked questions from the application and they'll be asked the questions for the civics portion.

- Okay.

And is this their last step in the process, or are there other steps after the interview?

- The only follow-up step is the actual oath, which could be at- - Oh.

- The same appointment, but more likely it's gonna be another appointment on a different day.

- Right, okay, all right.

- Throughout the naturalization process, there are a lot of different requirements that people need to meet even to just qualify to apply.

And some of those are that they have to have already had a green card for a certain number of years, they need to be able to show that they have good moral character, they need to demonstrate an attachment to the principles of the US government, which is where the civics test comes into the naturalization process.

They also test for their English proficiency and their literacy as well.

(mellow intriguing orchestral music) - I'm David Sundland, and I work for the Literacy Center just as a volunteer in various roles.

I've been volunteering at the Literacy Center for quite a few years, enough years that I can't remember exactly when I started.

There's two versions of the civics test, they both cover US history, the principles, and structure of the government.

So for people who filed for naturalization before October 25th, 2025, they take the 2008 version of the test; for those that filed after October 25th, they take the 2025 version.

And the old version, the 2008 version is 100 questions.

People in a naturalization interview are asked 10 questions, have to get six right.

With the new version, people are asked 20 questions and have to get 12 right.

They didn't simply add 28 questions, they removed 25, so it's 53 new questions and then another 19 questions got modified.

So it was pretty substantial change to the test.

So a lot of reworking on our end and trying to understand exactly how to present the new information.

Before we do the civics, just wanna do some of the overall interview question stuff first.

Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

- [Omar] Navajo.

- [David] What are two cabinet level positions?

- Secretary of State and Attorney General.

- [David] What are the two major political parties in the United States?

- [Omar] Democrat and Republican.

- All right.

One of my roles with the Literacy Center is to teach civics classes.

I wanna make sure that all my students really understand the questions and answers and it's really exciting when a student is getting it and when it's starting to click for people.

That's really satisfying.

What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

- US diplomat.

(chuckles) - Okay.

(chuckles) (Omar chuckles) The tests provide a good way of measuring how well a person understands the history of the country, the principles about how the government is run.

I don't know how important I would say it is for using that as a criteria for actually being a citizen of this country.

I would say how much a person contributes to the society itself, how much they help other people, if their benefits outweigh their impacts, that would be a bigger test.

(bright mellow orchestral music) - Contrary to popular belief, you can't just become a US citizen in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, you have to prove yourself so much in the process.

I know a lot of my citizen friends who I've actually tested just having fun, and they can't pass the naturalization test, so it really does take studying and intentional time.

And I think that really reflects people taking this seriously and naturalization and citizenship being something that is a privilege, and at the same time is being handled with so much care.

- The history of US naturalization law really begins in 1790, when Congress enacted the first naturalization law.

And in order to naturalize, a person had to be a free white person, have resided in the United States for two years, resided in their state where they applied for naturalization for one year, and be a person of good moral character, and then they also had to take an oath of citizenship.

America was a burgeoning experiment, democracy was something new, and there was a concern that new citizens had to be what was called “fit” for self-government.

And that meant that they had sort of the values, norms, and practices that would support democracy.

And the idea was who are we going to allow to become citizens?

There was a lot of immigration from Europe, and the idea was a lot of these individuals were coming from countries that had monarchies, and the question was, "Would they be supportive of a democratic society, or would they try to sort of surreptitiously reintroduce norms around a monarchy?"

And so, there was a real concern that the democracy was fragile and that the United States need to be very careful about who it allowed to naturalize.

(intriguing orchestral music) Over time, the individuals who were responsible for determining whether or not somebody was eligible for US citizenship via naturalization had to determine if the individual, say, was committed to the US Constitution.

And so, different decision-makers would use different ways of assessing this, some would ask questions about the Constitution, some would just ask questions about American society.

And over the years, that evaluation became more standardized.

So at one point in time, US federal administrators actually enacted a citizenship test that was issued by the government administrators who were reviewing the applications and that they would just sort of ask questions, whatever they wanted to ask.

And there were some concerns that some examiners would ask very easy questions like "How many states are there," whereas other examiners might ask more difficult questions like "Who was the 13th President of the United States?"

So then we moved towards sort of a standardized bank of 100 questions that the examiners had to use.

- Look at the cameras!

Buenos dias!

Buenos dias!

I really hold every single person who is going through naturalization and going through that process really closely, because I know what it feels like to wait, I know what it feels like to save for those fees.

I have met people who already meet all of the requirements, but they simply cannot afford to naturalize and so they continue to renew their green card.

It is now over $700 just for the application itself, and then you pair that with if you have to pay for any prep, if you have to pay for a lawyer to help you fill out the applications.

Many times, people are saving for years to get to that point.

And a little cinnamon for good luck.

I sacrificed a lot of time and effort to get here.

I'll be the first one in my family to naturalize, so I also hold them near my heart and know that this step that I'm taking, so many people wish that they could be in that position, so I'm humbled and I'm just so grateful.

(mellow intriguing orchestral music) I feel that I have two homes.

When I go back to Mexico where I'm from, I feel at home because I find belonging there; and when I'm here in the US, I feel at home because I find belonging here as well.

I actually believe that belonging is not granted by an institution.

No application can give you belonging.

It's really made in your neighborhoods, in your workplaces, in your schools.

For me, being American means being my full, authentic, multicultural self without shame, without worry, and knowing that I am worthy and my community is worthy.

Being a naturalized, having citizen is more than a paper to me, it's more than the process, it's more than just this application and the test.

It really is being part of a community that you have already contributed to.

(mellow bright orchestral music) (mellow bright orchestral music continues) (mellow bright orchestral music continues) (bright chiming music)