Fewer people became U.S. citizens in recent months compared to the past two years, with a group representing naturalized immigrants raising concerns that the Trump administration is actively suppressing new voters just days before the midterms. Newsweek analysis of naturalization data showed approvals fell to around 57,700 during the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2026, compared to over 200,000 in the same periods in 2024 and 2025, while pending cases soared above 742,000, according to the latest data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Citizenship grants the right to vote in federal elections, with the latest figures prompting concern from the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) that a deliberate effort was underway to prevent new voter registrations. "When I looked at the data, I just see a swift denial of, or negation of, processing applications and so we can ascertain that it's part of a strategy to cull or to limit people's access to naturalization and therefore civic engagement," Nicole Melaku, the executive director of the NPNA, told Newsweek. "In another political reality and in other administrations, you would not see that many applications pending and just sitting in a backlog." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek it had changed its policy from the "rubber-stamping" under the Biden administration.
USCIS released its latest quarterly data on applications, running April through June 2026, in late September, showing a growing backlog of citizenship applications. Newsweek compared Quarter 3 data for 2026 with the previous two years. The 2024 data fell under President Joe Biden, while the 2025 data belongs to the current Trump administration.
Two years ago, 218,720 applications for naturalization were approved by USCIS, with 462,974 pending. The numbers rose in 2025 to 241,326 approvals and 529,018 pending. By 2026, the approval rate dropped significantly to 57,697, while the number of applications waiting rose again to 742,138.
The biggest drops in approvals were seen in largely Democrat-leaning or large metropolitan areas. At the San Jose, California, field office, 317 cases were approved April-June this year, compared to 9,041 in 2025—a 96.5 percent drop. In Seattle, Washington, approvals fell 90.3 percent year-on-year, while in Houston, cases were down just shy of 50 percent.
Across the U.S., naturalization approvals fell in 2026, but some of the biggest drops came in the states that tend to have higher numbers of immigrants—California, New York, Florida, and Texas, which often have the highest numbers of naturalized citizens. Several of the states affected are places where naturalized voters make up a substantial share of the electorate. According to Pew Research Center in 2024, 55 percent of naturalized voters lived in Florida, Texas, California, and New York.
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