Trump administration abruptly cancels citizenship ceremonies for some immigrants

Several immigrants ready to take their citizenship oaths at Boston’s Faneuil Hall this week were told they could not proceed because of their countries of origin.

The same situation is playing out across the country.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has instructed its employees to halt immigration pathways to people from 19 countries deemed high risk, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Somalia.

The naturalization ceremony is the final step to becoming a U.S. citizen, a process that takes years to complete.

The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) said Monday that five people they have been working with received cancellation notices, and another 40 people are now uncertain of their future.

“At least 45 people MIRA has been supporting for months as they navigate the complicated and extensive American immigration and naturalization system have been impacted by these latest abrupt changes by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Five of those individuals found out last week that, after extensive vetting, interviews and tests, their oath of citizenship at historic Faneuil Hall had been cancelled while at least 40 who had begun the process now face further uncertainty and delay. This decision and the process is as crass as it is cruel and arbitrary. People are disheartened, devastated and rightly outraged,” MIRA Executive Director Elizabeth Sweet said in a statement.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu expressed outrage at the situation over the weekend.

“It’s despicable and it is deeply painful to see this happening across the country but to feel it at the cradle of liberty in Boston at Faneuil Hall a place that represents the foundation of this country and the very values that have made our nation who we are,” Wu said

Several people said they received cancellation notices through an online portal but the notices provided no further guidance. Project Citizenship, which said some of their clients were impacted, provided an example of a cancellation letter.

USCIS has said this pause is part of an effort to strengthen its screening processes and keep criminals from entering the U.S. NBC10 Boston has reached out for comment on the specific situation at Faneuil Hall.

“We changed that approach on day one of the Trump administration. Under President Trump, we are building more protective measures that ensure fraud, deception, and threats do not breach the integrity of our immigration system,” USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow wrote Friday in a press release announcing a new screening center headquartered in Atlanta.