This story aired in the November 26, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents.
Do you know how many representatives there are? Or how many amendments the U.S. Constitution has?
These are a few of the questions that permanent residents who are applying for U.S. citizenship have to answer/ in order to pass the naturalization civics test.
Passing that test is a crucial step in the citizenship process. And, under the Trump administration – that test just got harder. Today we visit a class in Half Moon Bay to see how people are preparing for their tests.
Click the button above to listen.
Story Transcript:
ANTHONY MOSS: Everyone raise your right hand. Do you promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.”
REPORTER: Since President Trump took office again, there’s been an increase in attendance here at the citizenship class run by Coastside Hope, a core service nonprofit.
MOSS: What is the supreme law of the land? The constitution is the supreme law of the land.
REPORTER: Anthony Moss is the instructor for this program. He’s been prepping students to take the exam since about 2005 and drives here every week from Napa.
MOSS: We have a student who’s here tonight who her exam is November Fourth. What do you think you need to work on?
LUPE MANRIQUEZ: Practicing with real people. I’ve been practicing on Youtube.
REPORTER: One of the students here tonight, Lupe Manriquez, is taking the exam very soon.
It’s crunch time for her. With all the immigration raids happening across the nation, Manriquez wanted to hurry up and apply for citizenship.
MANRIQUEZ: I started thinking about it, and I'm like, I need to become a citizen because green card doesn't guarantee that you're gonna stay here.
REPORTER: Manriquez came from Puebla, México when she was 14 years old. Her mom brought her to live in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Manriquez graduated from Mission High, attended some college, and met her husband. They got married in 2004 and then moved to Half Moon Bay. That’s when she looked into applying to get citizenship through her husband.
MANRIQUEZ: I tried to fix my status then. We didn't like it because they said if I wanted to become a resident or if he's going to petition me, I have to leave the country. And I didn't know for how long.
REPORTER: Everything changed when President Obama announced the creation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. The program offered young undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children the chance to have temporary protection from deportation.
MANRIQUEZ: I qualified and applied for DACA and a year later, I applied for a green card through my husband.
REPORTER: Even though she now has her greencard, there is a chance she could still be deported. Just this year, the Trump administration was specifically targeting green card holders.
MANRIQUEZ: When I came to this country, I knew that I have to do something. I didn't want to be undocumented for my whole life being here in this country, so I have to find a way to do it. And it's not easy.
REPORTER: Anthony Moss, the citizenship instructor, sees firsthand how the anxiety around mass deportations under the Trump administration is affecting the Latino community.
MOSS: There's people who are having mental breakdowns and mental issues and psychological issues. And it's not healthy. It's not good for them. And it's bad for the community, but it's especially bad for those people 'cause they're really suffering.
REPORTER: It’s driving people who can try and get citizenship to hurry up and so but the Trump administration just made the test harder.
Before this year, applicants had to answer 6 out of 10 questions about the U.S. History and Civics correctly.
Now anyone who signed up to take the exam after October 20th, will have to correctly answer 12 questions out of 20. And there’s new possible questions.
MOSS: What is the purpose of the 10th Amendment? So that's new.
REPORTER: Hmm. I'm curious, what's the answer for that?
MOSS: What is the purpose of the 10th Amendment? It states that the power is not given to the federal government, [but] belongs to the states or to the people. So that's actually a hard question. I wouldn't have been able to answer that.
REPORTER: Other new questions are about positive American contributions to history. And the test now has more questions that ask “why” something happened. Like, “Why are the Federalist Papers important?”, “Why did the U.S. enter World War I?”, or “Why is the Declaration of Independence so important?”
MOSS: Just for for ESL and for lower level people, “whys?” are always harder 'cause “whys” require more explanation.
REPORTER: A spokesperson from the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services said that the changes to the test are the first of many and that the changes are to ensure that new American citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to the country’s greatness. But Moss says, even though this new change is making it harder,people have gotten citizenship under any administration.
MOSS: Under Trump 2.0, it's seemingly more difficult, like there's more barriers, but that to me, that's smoke and mirrors. To me, there's still a pathway to citizenship and people should take it.
REPORTER: Two weeks after the citizenship class, Manriquez is outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration service building in San Francisco. She’s about to take the civics test.
MANRIQUEZ: I’m feeling kind of nervous but kind of happy at the same time. I finally got to do the citizenship interview.
REPORTER: How much did you practice last night?
MANRIQUEZ: I practiced for about four hours but this morning on my way here I was listening to the interview.
REPORTER: She goes inside. An hour later, the huge line of people waiting to enter the building has been cut down. And Manriquez comes out the door with a big grin on her face.
REPORTER: Hi? Yes?
MANRIQUEZ: Yes! It was more than waiting than the interview. The interview was probably less than 10 minutes, the waiting was one hour. But yes…I passed!
REPORTER: Manriquez tells me there were times before when her mom encouraged her to apply for citizenship, but she hesitated because she was scared. Now that she’s passed, she feels like everyone should be trying to do this.
MANRIQUEZ: When you’re an immigrant, you carry pounds and pounds on your back. Every day you get up, you go out the streets, you don’t know what’s going to happen. After I’ve done my citizenship, I feel so relieved. I feel like a new person. And I’m lucky. I’m lucky to be here.
REPORTER: Up till now - about 85% of people who take the test, pass. It remains to be seen how that success rate will change with the new, harder test but today – with Manriquez – one more person has passed and became a citizen.
