Earlier this month, several immigrants on the verge of becoming citizens were pulled out of line at Faneuil Hall right before their oath ceremony.
In response, Sen. Ed Markey is introducing legislation that would bolster protections for those immigrants who have already gone through the arduous process of naturalization, and are just waiting to have their naturalization ceremony and oath-taking.
Becoming a U.S. citizen takes years, involving an application, fees, background checks, English and civics tests, and interviews. Before going through that process, eligible immigrants must become permanent residents, which is its own long process.
“For those who get over those high hurdles, there is a naturalization and oath-taking ceremony,” Markey said in an emailed message. “The Trump administration has no right to deny it to those who have been approved for citizenship. My Naturalization and Oath Ceremony Protection Act ensures that those who earned the right to this meaningful ceremony cannot have it arbitrarily taken away from them.” GBH News first reported the Faneuil Hall incident.
The proposed legislation would prohibit broad-brush exclusions based on a person’s nationality, and require the government to justify the delay or cancellation of that oath ceremony in writing multiple days in advance. It would still allow the federal government to step in if individual issues came up, like a misrepresentation on the person’s application forms.
The Trump administration first cancelled all immigration processes, including naturalization, for immigrants from 19 countries with partial or full travel bans. Those were: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Those on the partial ban list are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Markey said his office was aware of four individuals who were denied citizenship, while advocacy organizations have mentioned at least seven. It is unclear if there is overlap.
That included a Haitian woman in her 50s who has had a green card since the early 2000s, were asked their countries of origin at Faneuil Hall two weeks ago and told they could not move forward with their oath ceremonies.
The Massachusetts senator’s office said the bill is in “direct response” to the Trump administration preventing green card holders from attendingtheir naturalization ceremonies and taking the Oath of Allegiance.
“The goal of this legislation is to eliminate these wanton acts of discrimination against people from certain countries who have already been fully-vetted, scrutinized, background checked just because of the country, their country of origin,” said Gail Breslow, executive director of the Project Citizenship.
Nearly 24,000 people naturalized in Massachusetts in fiscal year 2024, according to USCIS statistics.
Breslow said, with the initial travel bans, her organization has at least 21 individuals who have been directly alerted that their oath ceremonies have been postponed — but at least another 200 clients’ applications are presumably in limbo because of where they were born.
Project Citizenship is currently alerting permanent residents of an additional 20 countries whose oath ceremonies might be cancelled or impacted after the Trump administration added more countries to the travel ban list on Tuesday.
Those with full travel bans are: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The countries facing new partial restrictions are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The administration is also fully restricting travel for people with Palestinian Authority–issued travel documents.
Many green card holders waiting for oath ceremonies to be scheduled are being alerted about cancellations slowly via an online portal. The oath-taking can take place at a USCIS office, but can also occur in a larger setting, like a courthouse or Faneuil Hall, where the public is welcome to witness. Permanent residents usually have family and friends present.
Breslow said one of her staffers was speaking with a green card holder from the Ivory Coast hours before the new travel ban was issued.
“He was so excited to be hearing from her that we had received notice that his oath ceremony was scheduled,” she said. “So to have to call him back and say, ‘You know what, that might not be the case. You might be receiving a cancelation.’ It is just heart-wrenching.”
