USCCR Advisory Committee Urges USCIS to Modify Oath Ceremonies during COVID-19 Crisis

The Colorado Advisory Committee to the US Commision on Civil Rights issued a statement of concern urging the USCIS to modify its citizenship oath ceremony during the COVID-19 crisis.

Herein the Colorado Advisory Committee informs the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about the potential impact of COVID-19 on the backlog in citizenship and naturalization applications that will impede voting rights in the 2020 election. In order to comply with national health guidelines, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) field offices closed for three months and have reduced the number of individuals permitted to attend Oath of Allegiance Ceremonies to a fraction of the pre-pandemic capacity. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of otherwise eligible permanent residents may not naturalize in time to vote in the November 2020 election. This is a serious impediment to the exercise of voting rights. Therefore, the Colorado Advisory Committee encourages the Commission to urge the USCIS to make accommodations for the Oath of Allegiance ceremonies to expedite the naturalization processing.

Specifically, the statement urges the USCIS to consider the following measures to overcome barriers to naturalization and voting rights leading up to the 2020 election by:

• Employing alternative formats, such as virtual, drive-thru, or outdoor ceremonies;
• Allowing for administrative naturalization and waivers of the ceremony requirement;
• Empowering courts to expand and expedite judicial administrations of the Oath.

The statement amplifies the Rockier Road to U.S. Citizenship? report of the Migration Policy Institute and puts several recent immprof posts into action (here and here).

Disclosure: I am a member of the Colorado State Advisory Committee and worked on this statement of concern.

MHC