Biden Administration Defends Unlawful Trump Policy that Blocked Military Service Members’ Path to Expedited Citizenship

WASHINGTON — Four years after a district court ruled that a Trump-era policy blocking military service members’ expedited path to citizenship was unlawful, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of the District of Columbia are urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold this ruling.

Although a federal district court struck down this policy in April 2020, noncitizen service members remain in legal limbo due to the Biden administration’s continuation of a Trump-era appeal. Initially, the Biden administration asked the court to pause the appeal while it developed a new policy. However, after years of stalling, the Department of Defense has decided to defend the policy instead.

“The Biden administration should have abandoned President Trump’s cruel and unlawful policy years ago," said Scarlet Kim, staff attorney at ACLU. “Following years of delay, it’s disappointing to see the Administration defend a policy that would deprive thousands of service members the expedited path to citizenship they are entitled to. We hope the appeals court strikes down this unlawful policy once and for all.”

Because of Trump’s 2017 policy, noncitizen service members have been prevented from enjoying the privileges of U.S. citizenship, including the right to vote, sponsor immediate family members, and travel with a U.S. passport. For those serving abroad, their inability to naturalize means they are not entitled to the protections offered by U.S. embassies and consulates. And they also face career limitations since many of the more specialized and advanced military roles are reserved for U.S. citizens.

As the brief explains, noncitizens serving during a period of armed conflict — like the one the U.S. has been in since September 11, 2001 — have been granted a faster path to citizenship by Congress for over a century. The policy the Biden administration is defending sought to deprive them of this path by preventing service members from obtaining a certification necessary to apply for citizenship until they had been in the military for a certain amount of time. This new delay was a significant departure from the Department of Defense’s long-standing practice of issuing these certifications at the start of basic training, with the goal of facilitating service member naturalization by graduation, and before potential overseas assignments.

“Congress and the courts have made it clear that if you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for America, you are — and should be — entitled to be an American,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of D.C. “No matter the administration, we’ll fight any policy that robs noncitizen service members of their earned path to citizenship."