What it’s like to teach a US citizenship prep class right now

“Why do you want to become a U.S. citizen?”

That's how Melissa Michelson starts her class at Pasadena City College each semester. And as her course preparing immigrants for the naturalization test opens this week, it's what she'll ask again.

Michelson’s students come from China, Russia, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand and many parts of Latin America. Often, they tell her they’d like to become citizens to travel with greater ease. Others say they’d like to be able to vote.

Whatever their motive, Michelson’s job is to help them reach that goal. But increasingly, she’s grown conflicted about her role.

There are moments, in Michelson’s view, when what she’s teaching doesn’t line up with what she’s seeing happening across the country.

"It's a very strange position to be in,” she said, “coupled with the fear that I have.”

Fostering an active citizenry

For the past three years, Michelson has taught a course that prepares immigrants for their naturalization test. This involves demonstrating the ability to read, write and speak basic English. Candidates must also answer questions about U.S. history and government.

But Michelson doesn’t just want her students to pass the test. When they become U.S. citizens, she said, she wants them to feel ready to exercise their rights — and their responsibilities.

To that end, some of her lessons involve teaching students to identify their local and state representatives. Then, she has them practice weighing in on issues by writing to those officials. She’s also modeled how to call them.

Michelson also teaches classes for English language learners. Many of those students go on to enroll in her citizenship course.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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Michelson also preps her students with the questions they might encounter during the oral exam.

In the past, candidates studied the answers to 100 questions issued by the federal government. During their test, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers would ask 10 questions from the list; to pass, the candidates had to answer six correctly. Starting this week, students will need to be prepared to answer 128 civics questions — including “How are changes made to the U.S. Constitution?” and “The president of the United States can serve only two terms. Why?” Now, the number of questions prospective citizens will have to answer will double to 20. Twelve correct answers are required to pass.

The change is part of broader efforts under the Trump administration. When assessing a naturalization candidate’s “good moral character,” for instance, USCIS has instructed its officers to seek “positive contributions to American society instead of a mere absence of bad behavior.”

The agency also has announced that it is reintroducing “neighborhood investigations” into aspiring citizens — a discretionary practice that’s been shelved since the 1990s. A USCIS memo indicates that this can involve covering the vicinity of a candidate’s place of residence and employment, dating back to at least five years from the time they submit their applications.

“This is going to be a very tricky new space to navigate,” Michelson said.

Dominique Quevedo, managing attorney at the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation, echoed these concerns.

“We're still operating under the old procedure,” she told LAist. “It's unclear how it's going to play out.”

The Legal Aid Foundation assists people with incomes under 125% of the federal poverty guidelines.

“For something as seminal as naturalization, to throw in these additional roadblocks, we're very concerned about the impact it will have on clients,” she said.

Inside Michelson's office at Pasadena City College.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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Outside of her office, students and faculty can pick up one of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center's red cards, which describe constitutional rights, in multiple languages.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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Fighting off a sense of dread

In preparation for the civics test, teaching the Constitution is what excites Michelson the most — particularly the First Amendment. Many of her students come from countries where civil liberties aren’t respected, she said, so it’s essential to build in time to discuss freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and other rights.

“You should feel no fear when engaging in peaceful protest,” she used to tell her students.

But lately, she’s not so sure this is true.

Earlier this year, Michelson watched in dismay as immigration officials detained green card holders who participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations. This included Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student who was arrested at what was supposed to be his citizenship interview.

“For the first time, I was nervous for my students,” she said.

The Trump administration said it sought to deport Mahdawi, along with other noncitizen protesters, because their activities could “potentially undermine” foreign policy goals. But in Michelson’s view, these students were “getting picked up because they engaged in civic activism.”

In class, Michelson and her students talked about what they were seeing on TV and social media. Often, she said, she felt at a loss. “I don't know what to tell you guys,” she found herself saying last spring. “I don't know.”

As she prepares to teach a new course this fall, Michelson says she remains committed to helping her students become active U.S. citizens. She will help them practice their comprehension, pronunciation and grammar. And she’ll make sure they can answer any of the 128 questions.

She used to encourage her students to take their tests as soon as possible so that the material would still be fresh in their minds. Moving forward, she plans to underscore that they should speak to a lawyer.

Julie Mitchell is the legal director at the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, which offers citizenship courses like the one Michelson teaches at Pasadena City College.

These courses are a great way to prepare for the part of the test that examines candidates’ English fluency and knowledge of U.S. government and history, Mitchell said. But for navigating other parts of the naturalization process, she recommends legal counsel.

“But also, I don't want to scare people,” she added. “I think part of this is a scare tactic to get people to not apply for citizenship because it makes it sound scarier to do so.”

The test questions have changed, she acknowledged, but USCIS always has assessed “good moral character.”

How the agency interprets that may look different, Mitchell said, “but the baseline statute [that underpins naturalization] remains the same.”