Look for “neighborhood checks” for citizenship applications by Trump administration
“Americans should be comforted knowing that USCIS is taking seriously its responsibility to ensure aliens are being properly vetted and are of good moral character.” — @USCISJoe https://t.co/XTP2xO7Rlh
— USCIS (@USCIS) August 26, 2025
The Trump administration is tightening the requirements for naturalization. Here is the latest.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS News reports that the “administration is reinstating a long-dormant practice of conducting `neighborhood checks’ to vet immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship, expanding its efforts to aggressively scrutinize immigration applications, according to a government memo obtained by CBS News.” The report explains that “[t]he neighborhood checks would involve on-the-ground investigations by officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that could include interviews with the neighbors and coworkers of citizenship applicants.”
The tweet above by USCIS appears to confirm the return of neighborhood checks.
The purpose of the neighborhood checks is to determine if naturalization applicants have the “good moral character,” commitment to the U.S. Constitution, and are “well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.”
The U.S. government has not engaged in “neighborhood checks” since 1991, government records show. It has relied mainly on background and criminal checks to vet citizenship applicants.
KJ