Sponsor
Eric Stephen Schmitt
Senator · R-MO
Senator · R-MO
Official title: Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to strengthen requirements for naturalization, to require instruction on the oath of allegiance and the principles of the Constitution, to establish consequences for fraud and concealment in the naturalization process, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by Eric Stephen Schmitt · Last progress May 14, 2026
The bill aims to strengthen naturalization integrity and national‑security protections and to standardize guidance and testing, but it expands denial and denaturalization grounds, imports criminal‑law concepts into civil adjudications, and creates significant risks to due process, civil liberties, and government and taxpayer costs.
People who knowingly support terrorism, act as agents of foreign powers, or have serious transnational criminal ties will be more likely to be denied naturalization, denaturalized, or prosecuted; the government retains and clarifies tools to detect, deny, and revoke citizenship to reduce security risks.
Immigrants and adjudicators will get clearer, standardized study materials, oath instruction, statutory definitions, and reporting deadlines, improving transparency, consistency, and oversight of naturalization decisions.
Naturalization applicants retain protection from denial based solely on First Amendment‑protected speech or on protected characteristics, and the law preserves reasonable accommodations (including for disabilities) and existing waivers.
Immigrants (including lawful permanent residents and naturalized citizens) face substantially greater risk of denial, long barred ineligibility periods, and denaturalization because broadened definitions and mandatory bars cover disputed, minor, or concealed conduct, limiting remediation options.
Taxpayers and federal agencies will incur higher costs from expanded enforcement, removals, incarceration exposure, more detailed reporting, revised exams/materials, and increased litigation and FOIA requests, creating sustained administrative and budgetary burdens.
Individuals and defendants may face weakened due process and higher legal costs because of broader forfeiture authority, expanded evidentiary uses (including for denaturalization), and the importation of criminal‑law definitions into civil naturalization adjudications.
Based on analysis of 15 sections of legislative text.
Tightens naturalization standards, raises penalties for fraud, establishes new denial and certification requirements, revises civics/English testing, and mandates DHS reporting and materials updates.
Strengthens and tightens the U.S. naturalization process by increasing penalties for fraud and related crimes, expanding grounds for denial of citizenship, raising civil fines, and requiring stronger English, civics, and oath-of-allegiance instruction. It creates the “America 250 Citizenship Initiative” to revise study materials, mandates new reporting and regulations, and preserves denaturalization authority while clarifying limits to protect lawful speech and other specified conduct. The bill adds a new statutory denial authority for fraud and concealment, raises criminal and civil penalties tied to naturalization offenses (with enhanced 20-year terms for particularly serious conduct), sets higher civics and English standards and passing thresholds, requires certification that applicants understood the oath, and imposes recordkeeping, reporting, and regulatory deadlines for the Department of Homeland Security and related agencies.