Idea behind new citizen test has merit

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The Bush administration is expecting to use a new citizenship test that attempts to ensure that immigrants understand American values.

That’s a tall order, and its path to success is fraught with pitfalls and slippery slopes.

The idea behind it is laudable — the old test has been compared to a bureaucratic Trivial Pursuit game.

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Ricardo Romero of Lexington takes the Oath of Allegiance to become a naturalized citizen in this July 6, 2001, file photo. (AP File)

Ricardo Romero of Lexington takes the Oath of Allegiance to become a naturalized citizen in this July 6, 2001, file photo. (AP File)

The exam will be assessed in a pilot program in 10 cities beginning early next year.

The new test is an outgrowth of a 1997 study that concluded, among other things, there were inconsistencies in the way the tests were given in the district offices.

So, instead of grilling them about how many stripes are on the flag, prospective citizens will be asked why there are 13 stripes. Answer: Because the stripes represent the original 13 colonies.

Or: Why do we have three branches of government? Answer: So no branch is too powerful.

The old test questions usually had one correct answer. In the new test, there can be more than one, such as with the question: What does it mean that the U.S. Constitution is a constitution of limited powers?

The prospective citizen can answer that “The federal government has only the powers that the Constitution states that it has” or “The states have all the powers that the federal government does not.”

“We’re not just giving a test for testing’s sake,” said Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “The goal is to get away from rote memorization of what could be construed as trivial questions to something more meaningful.”

As with any bureaucratic shift, the new test is bound to be met with some doubt and suspicion. The U.S. political climate is tinged with unease about immigration, legal and illegal, and there is a feeling among many native-born Americans that some new immigrants don’t appreciate U.S. values and culture and are unwilling to assimilate.

Actually, a lot of the more immigration-unfriendly folks might benefit from taking the new test. Some of the more difficult ones tend to deflate notions of native super-patriotism.

More practically, immigration-rights advocates are concerned the new test may be too difficult, and some view it as an attempt to impede immigration into the United States.

They say the test might go further than the requirement that citizens have a “basic” understanding of the U.S. government.

Watchdog groups nationwide are saying they are examining the process to make sure the immigration agency is not placing a heavier burden on people who use legal channels to enter the country.

As always, bureaucracy isn’t cheap, and it won’t get any cheaper at the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the current $400 citizen application fee is expected to be increased substantially. That’s unfortunate, and probably unnecessary, because the higher price merely will increase cynicism, or at least doubt as to motives.

“The administration is putting up (another) wall to citizenship for immigrants between a longer application process, higher fees and what may very well be a more difficult test,” Ali Noorani, of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, told the Monitor.

Dorcy Tromanhauser, Immigrant Integration and Civic Participation Program Director at Nebraska Appleseed in Lincoln, agrees that costs can be a burden.

“The more people have to pay, the more difficult it is for them to get through the process,” she said. “We don’t like the prices to go up too much because you end up paying a lot more than $400 to achieve citizenship,” she said.

The government can’t do too much immediately about changing public attitudes, but holding down or even reducing the prices charged to anxious, well-meaning prospective citizens would go a long way toward welcoming them into U.S. citizenship.