SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's been a volatile year for people in America eligible to become U.S. citizens. In 2025, some green card holders felt the pressure to naturalize, but after a series of major policy changes, others are opting out. NPR's Anusha Mathur reports.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Wave your flags in the air.
ANUSHA MATHUR, BYLINE: It was a day of joy and celebration for Daniel Chigrinsky. In March, he finally became a U.S. citizen.
DANIEL CHIGRINSKY: My granddad's lived in Chicago since well before I was born. He became a citizen. Then my dad became a citizen. Then my sister became a citizen. It's not my journey. It's the journey of my family and of everyone around us who's helped us get here.
MATHUR: But he tells me the path to get here was stressful. Chigrinsky is originally from Hungary, and he applied to naturalize last summer. At the time, some people were getting arrested at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service appointments. That's the agency that processes naturalizations. Later, we heard from some lawyers who say some immigrants were pulled out of line and denied citizenship at their oath ceremonies. The administration says it's ramping up vetting.
CHIGRINSKY: Showing up for the interview, for example, was a terrifying experience. And I, for one, know I didn't have anything to worry about.
MATHUR: NPR talked to over 20 new citizens and analyzed the 2025 naturalization data. We tried to understand whether President Trump being back in office affected people's decision to take the final leap to become American. We found that it was complicated. The dips and surges mapped clearly onto policy changes. For some people like Johanan Rivera from Mexico, Trump was actually the catalyst to apply.
JOHANAN RIVERA: There are so many things happening in the country that I felt just having, in this case, residency, was not enough. It's been a result of political change in the U.S. that I think has pushed forward the process.
MATHUR: And Rivera's not alone. Over 169,000 people applied to naturalize in October, about double the number who normally do. But the year also saw record lows in people seeking citizenship. In November, about 41,000 people applied. That's a nearly 75% drop from the peak in the prior month.
Gianina Horton is a city council member in Aurora, Colorado. She said that many eligible immigrants in her city are opting out.
GIANINA HORTON: There's also an understanding that we are in a political climate where it is unsafe for a lot of immigrants to engage with federal agencies. Whether that is true or perceived, it is still a huge influential factor.
MATHUR: She frets about the erosion of trust in the immigration process, what it means for America and its fate as a democracy of immigrants.
Anusha Mathur, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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