Target: Joseph Edlow, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Goal: Proceed with naturalization ceremonies and stop pushing denaturalization.
In America’s highly charged immigration debates, many politicians often wax poetic about going through the citizenship process “the right way.” This right way often involves years of intensive vetting, testing, and interviewing. It culminates in a swearing-in ceremony that represents the fulfillment of a long-held dream for people around the world. But with a few strokes of the pen, the federal government is ripping that dream away.
In December of 2025, the Trump administration began abruptly halting naturalization ceremonies for scores of people who were on the verge of becoming citizens. In some cases, these individuals were pulled from their ceremonies right before they were sworn in. They were then told they would have to undergo a re-review process – which could take just as long as the process they’d just undergone – with no guarantee that their hard-won citizenship would even be approved. What was the great infraction of these individuals? They all happened to be born in countries the administration had arbitrarily deemed “high risk.” These people who had no blemishes on their own records were being punished for something entirely out of their control. Meanwhile, they were forced to watch as wealthy white farmers from Africa skipped ahead of them to the front of the line.
To add insult to this grievous injury, the administration has recently made a new mission call in its fight against all immigrants. They have beefed up personnel at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for the express purpose of finding foreign-born Americans they can strip of their already-attained citizenship status. This move follows a memo from the U.S. Department of Justice that identifies the removal of U.S. citizenship and the deportation of citizens – or denaturalization – as a “top priority.”
With the reported purchase of massive warehouses to hold immigrant detainees, the United States is sliding dangerously close to lines reminiscent of 1930s-era Germany. Sign the petition below to demand America’s supposed ambassador for would-be immigrants stop before the lines are irrevocably crossed.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Director Edlow,
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” They are iconic words that once welcomed people from around the world to America. For decades, this inscription on the Statue of Liberty was the first exposure immigrants who hoped and dreamed got to the United States.
Do the words still have meaning, or have they become an empty promise? This agency that is supposed to help individuals and families achieve the American dream – to demonstrate that this dream is open to all – has instead devoted its resources to yanking people who have worked and sacrificed for that dream from their citizenship ceremonies. It has deployed agents across the country to “denaturalize” citizens and to strip away their dreams and their lives.
If the words on Lady Liberty mean anything, end at once the wholesale and unprovoked attacks on citizens, on would-be citizens, and on the American dream itself.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue
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