Earlier this month, President Donald Trump released a letter to be given to new citizens upon their naturalization. The message was lofty and inspiring: “America has always welcomed those who embrace our values, assimilate into our society, and pledge allegiance to our country. By taking this oath, you have forged a sacred bond with our Nation, her traditions, her history, her culture, and her values.”
The letter should be applauded for setting an aspirational standard for what citizenship should mean. But it is not an accurate reflection of today’s reality. The United States faces a deep assimilation crisis.
Tougher tests, stricter reviews, and heightened scrutiny must replace the laughably weak process we have today.
To its credit, the Trump administration — through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow — has tried to address the problem by revamping the path to naturalization. The changes include restoring a more rigorous version of the citizenship test. Today, the English portion can be passed simply by writing one memorized sentence, such as: “The president lives in the White House.”
Other reforms include social media screening and neighborhood checks to determine whether applicants are civic-minded, engage in anti-American behavior, or have a history of trouble with the law. These commonsense steps move naturalization closer to what it should be: a process that ensures new citizens merit the honor of joining the American republic.
Numbers that tell the story
America’s foreign-born population has topped 50 million, driven by mass immigration policies that have prioritized large inflows from countries with steep barriers to assimilation, including Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam. Legal immigration at this scale has created far more strain on assimilation than even the inflow of illegal aliens.
One of the clearest measures is English proficiency. According to Pew Research, only about half of immigrants ages 5 and older speak English well. Rates vary widely by country of origin; among Central American immigrants, only one in three is proficient.
Worse, proficiency has declined over time. Immigrants who arrived before 2000 had about a 10-point advantage over those who arrived later. Census data shows that 22% of Americans older than 5 speak a language other than English at home — and a third of them admit they speak English “less than very well.”
Split allegiances compound the problem. A 2012 Pew Research poll found that only 21% of Hispanics primarily identified as “American.” Meanwhile, naturalized U.S. citizens from Mexico can still vote in Mexican elections, an arrangement that blurs civic loyalty.
The money tells a similar story. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that $200 billion leaves the United States annually in remittances to immigrants’ home countries, including Mexico, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, and China. These untaxed transfers amount to a substantial portion of the GDP of many Central American nations — and a permanent drain on American wealth.
Cultural decay in plain sight
The cultural effects of weak assimilation are obvious. Earlier this summer, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told a foreign audience, in Spanish: “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”
She is not alone. Last year, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) declared in Somali: “We are an organized society, brothers and sisters, people of the same blood, people who know they are Somalis first, Muslims second.”
A Gallup poll from June reflects the larger trend: 92% of Republicans say they are extremely or very proud to be American, compared to just 36% of Democrats. As Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies recently observed, much of the blame lies with America itself. When national culture, language, and tradition are purposely eroded, what is left for newcomers to assimilate into?
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Acknowledge the problem
The assimilation crisis has no quick fix. With more than 800,000 people naturalized last year, the math guarantees that tens of thousands of new citizens each year will have only weak attachment to American identity. Unless naturalization standards change, the problem will compound.
Short of drastically reducing legal immigration, the least America can do is raise the bar. Clearer tests, more rigorous reviews, and tighter scrutiny must replace today’s lax process.
But first comes honesty. President Trump’s letter should be read for what it is — not a reflection of our current affairs, but a call to restore the meaning of citizenship. It points toward the America we ought to be.
