As the Donald Trump administration stopped all immigration requests from 19 countries of concern, people who were just one step away from getting their citizenship received the shock of their lives. They just received a four-sentence email informing them that their naturalization ceremony got canceled. Some were not even informed; they found out when they went to the ceremonies. Immigration officials asked which countries they were from, and then those from either of the 19 countries were told that they would not be able to take part in the naturalization process. A naturalization ceremony is the final step in the process of becoming a US citizen. It is a formal event organized by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services where a to-be citizen takes the oath of allegiance. They return their Green Card, renounce their prior allegiance to the other countries and receive a certificate of naturalization which is their official proof of US citizenship.

‘People were plucked out of line’

At a ceremony in Boston’s “People are devastated and they’re frightened,” Breslow told GBH News. “People were plucked out of line. They didn’t cancel the whole ceremony.”

What next?

This is the situation all across the country as Trump announced an immediate immigration ban on 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Haiti, and Somalia. These people will now be re-vetted but lawyers are also not certain about what these people should now do. Some people are carrying all documents with them in case they are stopped by immigration authorities as they go about their daily lives. Lawyers said their clients, some of whom have been living in the US since 2000, had already been vetted multiple times as they passed through a series of legal hoops before even applying for citizenship, including establishing lawful permanent residency and obtaining work authorization.