What that citizenship contest reality show gets right

Fox News

7 hours ago

It's not clear that "The American," the proposed reality TV show in which immigrants would compete to become naturalized U.S. citizens on the steps of the Capitol, will gain the cooperation of the Department of Homeland Security or ever see the light of day. But that hasn't stopped it from being cast in a negative light.
As the New York Times described it: "Under Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, the (Department of Homeland Security) has often focused on publicity and reality-TV tactics to showcase President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policies."
In other words, it's being cast as citizenship Hunger Games – though all the contestants would wind up on the fast track to naturalization. But that misses what's fundamentally positive about it: the focus on citizenship itself as the goal.
It's a focus that's been missing in all the attention rightly paid to the illegal and undocumented – the fact that citizenship is on offer to those who work hard and play by the rules and should be encouraged, just as it was once the case a century ago, when America assimilated its last big wave of newcomers.
This would not and should not require some sort of amnesty for illegals. According to the Pew Research Center, there are 13.5 million fully legal immigrants who are not citizens but could be – yet we've averaged only 730,000 naturalizations a year.
A citizenship drive would help not just the new citizens but America.
To become a citizen, one must swear to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America "and to bear arms to defend it." One must have some knowledge of what the Constitution says, in order to pass a written test – which is offered only in English.
A wave of naturalization would make also our elections more fair. Per the Constitution, all congressional districts are based on their number of residents, not the number of citizens. That means that many Democrats from districts with large concentrations of noncitizen legal and illegal immigrants, have far fewer eligible voters in their districts than Republicans.
In Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 14th District in New York, a whopping 46% of residents are foreign-born – and only 192,000 votes were cast in 2024. In Ohio Republican Jim Jordan's 4th District, 96% of voters are native-born; 399,000 votes were cast last year. Keep in mind: noncitizens may not vote and have no voice in government.
The Center for Immigration Studies has found that of 16 districts where more than one in four adults is not an American citizen, only one is represented by a Republican. These are, in other words, places where it takes fewer votes to win – and where Democrats hold the advantage. In light of the Trump vote among Hispanics, one cannot predict how naturalized immigrants would vote.
As important as citizenship can be, there are real barriers – not just reality show theatrics – to achieving it. Taking the citizenship test costs $710 for each family member – and one must have studied 100 potential civics questions and be able to read English.
ESL classes are available to be sure – but these can have long waiting lists and may be scheduled in the evening when immigrants are working night shifts. In Chicago, for instance, the public library offers a nine-week citizenship class in English only – and the ESL classes you'd need first have waiting lists.
But a new, nationwide citizenship movement is plausible – because the U.S. has a record of a successful one. In 1910, the foreign-born percentage of the population in the US (14.7) was roughly as big as it is today (15.6). The assimilation that ensued is too often cast as inevitable. But our civil society – not government – took steps to introduce immigrants to the American system and lead them to citizenship.
The settlement house movement, started by Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, in a working-class Italian immigrant neighborhood in Chicago relied on volunteers who moved in and "settled' in immigrant neighborhoods and offered everything from nutrition classes to music lessons. They specifically prepared their neighbors to become American citizens.
In her memoir "Twenty Years at Hull House," Illinois-born Addams, a Quaker whose Republican father was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, wrote, "Every settlement has classes in citizenship in which the principles of American institutions are expounded." The goal was to "make clear the constitutional basis of a self-governing community."
There were more than 400 such settlement houses across the country – all supported by local donors. It was a movement – and encouraging citizenship was part of it.
There are some similar efforts ongoing today. In Reno, Nevada, the Northern Nevada Literacy Council pairs volunteers with immigrants – tutoring them in their homes by day because many work nights. They've helped many pass the citizenship test. In the village of Port Chester, New York – where immigrants from Central America have clustered – the George Washington Carver Center has added citizenship test tutoring by volunteers to its historic assistance for low-income Blacks.
The potential benefits of a national citizenship push were captured well by Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side. New immigrants, she wrote in her memoir, "The House on Henry Street," "bring an enthusiasm for our institutions." She dreamed "of making his coming of age – his admission to citizenship, something of a rite."
So it can still be. We should celebrate, not deride, a reality show that draws renewed attention to it.