In August 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration would be including “more stringent criteria” to determine “good moral character” in US citizenship applicants. Trump expressed that this new criterion is part of an effort to screen for “anti-American views.”
The policy was issued via a US Citizenship and Immigration Services memo, which instructs the agency to ensure that moral character evaluation of applicants is conducted in a more comprehensive manner. In the memo, the American president urges that the agency not just look at the “absence of misconduct.”
So, how is moral character analyzed in US citizenship applications? How can something so subjective be evaluated in a comprehensive manner? Click on to find out.