Driscoll Response to Federal Action to Cancel Citizenship Ceremonies

DECEMBER 11, 2025

Following the Trump administration’s implementation of a full travel ban on select countries, naturalization ceremonies have been cancelled for immigrants who have completed the full process for citizenship.

GBH’s Sarah Betancourt highlights a recent occurrence of these cancellations in her piece, Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide.

An excerpt from Betancourt’s work, “Becoming a U.S. citizen takes years and involves immigrants acquiring a green card, extensive interviews, background checks, classes and a citizenship test. The naturalization ceremony is the final step to the process, where the oath of allegiance and a citizenship certificate are granted.

Immigrants approved to be naturalized went to Faneuil Hall Thursday — known as the country’s cradle of liberty — for that long-awaited moment to pledge allegiance to the United States. But instead, as they lined up, some were told by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials that they couldn’t proceed due to their countries of origin.”

Upon learning of these recent events, Senator Driscoll releases the following statement:

The Trump Administration's travel ban list is being utilized in a manner that wastes taxpayer dollars, devastates immigrants that have followed the rules, and sows fear in communities, including here in Massachusetts.

The recent removal from and cancellation of U.S. Citizenship Oath Ceremonies for Commonwealth residents are unconscionable acts that further erode the basic principles of which our nation was founded on.

I call upon the Trump Administration and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to immediately halt these shameful practices and clear the way for our newest citizens to take the oath and realize the dream of becoming an American.

The individuals being pulled out of line at the last moment and held back from taking the oath have resided in the U.S. for many years; invested ample time, money, and education; and ultimately completed the full legal process for citizenship. Stripping these upstanding individuals of this opportunity wasted years-worth of time and high-cost resources, but more importantly, these reckless practices deprive those affected of the dignity and protections that have always been a part of achieving naturalized status. They deserve their rightful place among us as U.S. citizens – they’ve earned it.

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