Want to become a US citizen? Donald Trump wants you to have ‘good moral character’. But what does that mean?

Want to become a citizen of the United States? Having a ‘good moral character’ has long been considered one of the criteria for citizenship.

However, now the administration of US President Donald Trump has told officials to expand on the definition.

But what happened? What are the changes one needs to be cognisant of?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

First let’s briefly take a look at the ‘good moral character’ requirement for citizenship .  This stipulation was added after the US passed the 1790 Naturalization Act. This had long been interpreted to mean that a person has no criminal convictions against him or her – for example murders, felonies and genocide. However, drink driving, for example, can also be a disqualifier.

Those wanting to apply to become a citizen must show that they have undergone rehabilitation. This citizenship test is usually given to green card holders who have been in the country between three and five years and who want to become American citizens – a process known as naturalisation. Other than showing ‘good moral character’, those wanting to become citizens must also clear English and civics tests.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the change in policy in a memo on Friday. The agency ordered its employees to do a more complete and “holistic” assessment of applicants’ “good moral character”.

This includes being involved in their local community, positive contributions to the US, having family ties, having a long employment history, being a lawful resident of the us for a long time and paying taxes.

The agency asked employees to consider applicants’ “positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct.” The applicant must show their character is “commensurate with the standards of average citizens of the community in which the alien resides.”

Officers have been told to bar applicants if they have committed “any other acts that are contrary to the average behaviour of citizens in the jurisdiction where aliens reside. This even if those acts are “technically lawful.”

USCIS has also said it will check prospective citizens and visa applicants for “anti-Americanism,” and in particular “antisemitic ideologies” including their behaviour on social media.

“America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,” USCIS chief spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said on Tuesday. “[USCIS] is committed to implementing policies and procedures that root out anti-Americanism and supporting the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures to the fullest extent possible.”

“Immigration benefits—including to live and work in the United States—remain a privilege, not a right,” he added.

“USCIS is adding a new element to the naturalization process that ensures America’s newest citizens not only embrace America’s culture, history, and language but who also demonstrate Good Moral Character,” Tragesser earlier said. “US citizenship is the gold standard of citizenship—it should only be offered to the world’s best of the best.”

What do experts say?

That this is the latest move from Trump to attempt to restrict immigration to the United States. Trump has also taken aim at birthright citizenship which he has vowed to do away with.

Since 2015, anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million immigrants have become US citizens every year. There are around 25 million naturalised citizens in the US.  Critics say the Trump administration is trying to keep the keep the number of people who enter the US and become naturalised citizens in check.

“They’re trying to increase the grounds for denial of US citizenship by kind of torturing the definition of good moral character to encompass extremely harmless behaviour,” Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS official who worked in the Biden Administration, told CBS.

Gabriel J Chin, a University of California, Davis, law professor, told The Washington Post that new USCIS guidance is “so loose and discretionary that it is obviously susceptible to arbitrary enforcement.”

“Many birthright US citizens do not have sufficient educational or economic achievements that would entitle them to a visa to immigrate to the United States,” said Chin. “If they had not been born here, they would not make the cut”.

Some in the Trump administration have propounded ‘the Great Replacement theory’ – a conspiracy advanced by many on the far-right that accuses shadowy elitist figures of seeking to replace white citizens with non-white immigrants.

While Trump has never explicitly referred to this theory, he has consistently put down immigrants, particularly from South American nations as ‘animals’ and ‘rapists’. He has also repeatedly said that America is at risk of being invaded and its culture lost.

“For me, the really big story is they are opening the door for stereotypes and prejudice and implicit bias to take the wheel in these decisions. That’s really worrisome,” Jane Lilly Lopez, an associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, said.

Lopez said the development “make it harder for noncitizens to obtain legal belonging in the United States” because officers have to “evaluate something they cannot consistently describe or define.”

Trump has also threatened to denaturalise US citizens – most prominently Elon Musk and Zoran Mandani. However, denaturalisation can only be done under the strictest of terms. The Trump administration has also cracked down on college students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza under the guise of ‘anti-Semitism’. The Trump administration has also vowed to deport ‘pro-Hamas students’.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student with a green card , has already been deported for advocating for Palestinian rights. Meanwhile, Rümeysa Öztürk, a student from Turkey, was taken into custody by the government for writing an op-ed saying that her college should “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and cut all ties with Israel. A judge ordered Öztürk to be released after finding that the government had no grounds to hold her in custody,

What does this mean?

It means that if you are planning to apply for the United States for visa or a citizenship , the last thing you should do is criticise President Donald Trump on social media. Or even worse, take aim at Israel over the unfolding events in Gaza.

This, of course, is steeped in irony given that Trump himself is a convicted felon. Trump in May 2024 was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election. Trump did so to cover up an affair with a porn star Karen McDougal, with whom he had carried on at a time when his wife Melania had just given birth to their son Baron. Trump also is the first president to enter office as a convict.

A New York judge found Trump civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation of E Jean Carroll.  Trump also has been credibly accused of sexual harassment by dozens of women. Trump has also claimed that the late Jeffrey Epstein, who ran a sex trafficking ring, was a good friend for many years. The two men are said to have had a falling out. Trump has since distanced himself from the late disgraced financier.

While Trump isn’t exactly in a position to be the arbiter of moral standards, that has not deterred his administration from trying to do so anyway.

Israel, meanwhile, is more and more being widely accused by experts of conducting a genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Experts are warning that Gaza faces a starvation crisis. Over 60,000 Palestinians are said to have died since the war in Gaza began according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

With inputs from agencies