Biden-Harris Administration Approving Citizenship Applications at Fastest Rate in a Decade

FAIR Take | October 2024

Applications for citizenship are now being approved at the fastest rate in a decade, due to a concerted effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to cut processing times by half since taking office.

As a result, nearly 3.5 million immigrants have become citizens since the 2020 election and are now able to vote in this year’s presidential election. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 813,861 applications in FY 2021; 969,380 in FY 2022; 878,500 in FY 2023; and over 611,000 naturalization applications have been approved through the third quarter of FY 2024.

The number of citizenship applications being approved over the past four years is now hovering around historic highs. Naturalizations in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 alone made up nearly a quarter (24%) of all naturalizations over the past decade. Naturalizations in 2022 marked the third highest year on record, and naturalization in FY 2023 marked the fifth highest year on record.

Data Source: Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

According to the Los Angeles Times, once in office, the Biden-Harris Administration immediately took steps to prioritize naturalization applications. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hired more staff for processing applications, made it easier for immigrants to apply for free, and expanded its public relations efforts surrounding the naturalization process to reduce the flood of applications around election years.

These efforts reduced the time it takes to process naturalization applications to an average of 5 months in FY 2024—half the processing time in FY 2021, its fastest rate in a decade. Processing times increased during the Trump Administration due to a surge in citizenship applications and slowed even more during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the changes made by the Biden-Harris Administration, however, processing times have returned to their lowest level in a decade.

Source: USCIS and Historic Processing Times (uscis.gov)

The Biden-Harris Administration denies that the rush to approve citizenship applications is politically motivated. When asked about the rapid approvals of citizenship applications, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said, the Department “does not take actions based on electoral politics or upcoming elections. Period.”

However, a recent poll of new citizens conducted by a coalition of open-borders groups showed that new citizens disproportionately identify as Democrats (43.3. percent) rather than Republicans (30.4 percent). The same poll found that a greater share of newly naturalized citizens would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris (53.6 percent) over former President Donald Trump (38.3 percent). The remaining 8 percent said they would vote for another candidate or not vote at all.

Indeed, 3.5 million new voters have the potential to change the outcome in elections, especially if they live in swing states. In 2020, President Biden won Arizona by about 10,457 votes and Georgia by 12,670 votes. He won Wisconsin by 20,682 votes and Nevada by 33,596 votes. In 2016, former President Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes and Wisconsin by 22,748 votes. Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,280 votes and Arizona by 91,234 votes.

Last year (FY 2023) USCIS data show that a large number of naturalizations took place in California, New York, Texas, Florida, and New York. But naturalizations occur across the country on a regular basis, and USCIS is now approving citizenship applications at about the rate of 2,500 per day. It seems Americans will just have to wait until November 6 to see what impact this wave of new citizens has had on the election.