Immigrants Approved for Citizenship ‘Plucked Out’ of Line Moments Before Pledging Allegiance: Report

Immigrants were moments away from pledging allegiance to the United States in Boston — the final step of the long process to becoming a U.S. citizen — when government officials pulled them out of line, according to a new report.

The scene unfolded at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, according to the report from WGBH, a National Public Radio member station.

As people who were already approved to be naturalized — having completed the lengthy U.S. citizenship process — lined up to pledge allegiance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials told them they could not continue due to their countries of origin, the outlet reported.

USCIS officials took individuals from the line because the federal agency has directed its employees to halt all immigration applications for nationals from the 19 countries that already faced travel restrictions since June due to a proclamation from President Donald Trump, per WGBH and NBC News. The Trump administration designated the list of largely African and Asian countries as high-risk.

Gail Breslow, executive director of Project Citizenship, a nonprofit that helps immigrants apply for citizenship, told WGBH that many of her clients received cancellation notices for their citizenship ceremonies and appointments — but for many, it was too little too late.

“People were plucked out of line. They didn’t cancel the whole ceremony,” she said of the Dec. 4 scene at Faneuil Hall, which WGBH noted is similar to instances playing out at naturalization events across the U.S.

One of the nonprofit’s clients, a Haitian woman who has had a green card since the early 2000s, “said that she had gone to her oath ceremony because she hadn’t received the cancellation notice in time,” Breslow told the Boston outlet. 

Haiti is on the list of 19 countries with full or partial restrictions, which also includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled,” Breslow said of her client.

“People are devastated, and they’re frightened,” she added.

A different client, meanwhile, asked the Project Citizenship exec for an explanation, which she said she couldn’t provide. “One person was, you know, asking … what did I do wrong? Why is this happening to me? And, you know, needed to be reassured that it wasn’t anything she had done,” Breslow told WGBH. “This wasn’t her fault.”

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of MIRA Coalition — which promotes “the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees” — called the officials’ approach ahead of the Dec. 4 ceremony “unnecessarily cruel.”

“As an immigrant takes the oath of citizenship, it’s a reflection and recognition of the tremendous sacrifice of time, energy and financial resources they have made in the hopes of becoming a full member of our community and nation,” Sweet told WGBH. “To have that final step canceled is unnecessarily cruel and does nothing to make this country a safer place.”

A USCIS spokesperson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, Dec. 7.

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USCIS announced news of the halted applications — which affects both green card and citizenship applicants — in a memo on Tuesday, Dec. 2, according to NBC News.

“USCIS has considered that this direction may result in delay to the adjudication of some pending applications and has weighed that consequence against the urgent need for the agency to ensure that applicants are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” the agency said, per the outlet.

“Ultimately, USCIS has determined that the burden of processing delays that will fall on some applicants is necessary and appropriate in this instance, when weighed against the agency’s obligation to protect and preserve national security,” the memo continued.

Addressing the halted applications in a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the Trump administration is “making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best.”

“Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” the DHS spokesperson added. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake.”