Tit for Tat: USCIS forbids citizenship ceremonies in sanctuary cities

The Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Service is blocking city governments from holding naturalization ceremonies in Denver. While Denverites can still take their oath of citizenship privately in the federal office, the public ceremonies that recognize the milestone as part of a ommunity or family celebration are being discontinued by the USCIS as a tit for tat since the Denver city council limited city government information sharing with federal immigration authorities in Jun 2019. As a USCIS spokeswoman explains,

“The mission of USCIS is to both celebrate American citizenship through naturalization ceremonies as well as protect the homeland by ensuring the integrity of our immigration system. Unfortunately, the City and County of Denver chooses not to work with USCIS on investigations of potential fraud, which negatively impacts USCIS’ ability to fairly and accurately adjudicate cases involving national security concerns and fraud,” said Jessica Collins, USCIS spokesperson. “Given the situation, USCIS will not be able to collaborate with the City and County of Denver to hold naturalization ceremonies until the City and County of Denver cooperates on the overall USCIS’ mission.”

It is unclear how widespread the cancellations are, as the Denver city council had not itself reported the cancellation, though the federal government has had a pattern of seeking to punish sanctuary cities. There have been prior instances of USCIS cancelling ceremonies in the Georgia Capitol over disagreement about immigrant advocacy they deemed to detract from the agency’s mission.

MHC