On Friday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization, a cross-department approach to promoting naturalization to all who are eligible.
The proposed strategy relies on citizenship education and awareness and building capacity expanding partnerships, with the following goals and outcomes:
- Raising awareness of the importance of citizenship;
- Promoting civic integration and inclusion;
- Providing immigrants with opportunities and tools to become fully engaged citizens;
- Building community capacity to prepare immigrants for citizenship;
- Eliminating sources of fear and other barriers that prevent individuals from accessing available naturalization services; and
- Advancing and ensuring equity throughout the citizenship and naturalization processes, including on the basis of race, disability, language access, national origin, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and providing support to traditionally underserved communities.
The Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization is a nationwide initiative that will be implemented at the community level, including the following elements:
- Use of data regarding potential naturalization-eligible populations;
- Citizenship public education and awareness campaigns;
- National and community targeted outreach through traditional and social media;
- Stakeholder engagement;
- Promotion of citizenship education and resources;
- The USCIS Outstanding Americans by Choice (ABC) Initiative;
- The USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grant Program; and
- Capacity building through collaboration and partnerships
The report is in response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans (14012) and is a collaborative effort by the Naturalization Working Group — USCIS, the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of State, Department of Labor, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, and the Social Security Administration.