Neighborhood checks will once again be used for some immigrants applying for citizenship, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced, Politico reported.
This is part of the Trump administration’s goal of adding requirements to the legal immigration process and will bring to an end a three-decade long waiver to a requirement for such personal investigations that began to wane in the 1990s. Instead, U.S. officials have since relied on the FBI to carry out background checks.
Along with such changes since President Donald Trump entered the White House as reducing the amount of time foreign nationals can remain in the United States, the aim of these new rules is to limit visa overstays and carry out proper scrutiny of migrants, according to Politico.
“Incorporating neighborhood investigations will help enhance these statutorily required investigations to ensure that we are meeting congressional intent,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement.
He added that “Americans should be comforted knowing that USCIS is taking seriously it’s responsibility to ensure aliens are being properly vetted and are of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.”
In addition, USCIS declared that it may also start requiring applicants for U.S. citizenship to submit letters of recommendation from “neighbors, employers, co-workers, and business associates who know the alien and can provide substantiated information about the alien, including any of the requirements for naturalization.”
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