Citizenship tests may become more difficult. Here’s what you need to know

The U.S. citizenship test, which most adult immigrants to the United States take to obtain U.S. citizenship, may become more difficult under new plans announced by the Trump administration this week.

“This test is too easy… We need to make it more difficult… We’re going to make it more challenging in terms of making the questions more thought-provoking,” Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said during an event hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington.

While no formal plans have been released, Edlow’s comments demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to curbing illegal immigration, as well as legal pathways to U.S. citizenship.

Here’s what you need to know about the citizenship test.

What does the test look like now?

The citizenship test currently used in the naturalization process includes a civics exam and an English language proficiency exam.

On the civics exam, applicants are asked 10 out of 100 questions on history and government available for study on the USCIS website. To pass, they must answer six out of 10 questions correctly.

Many of these questions relate to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights—for example, “What prevents one branch of government from becoming too powerful?” and “What is one of the rights or freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment?”

There are also questions about U.S. history—for example, “Why did the colonists fight the British?” or “Name one problem that led to the Civil War.”

Some of these questions have multiple correct answers depending on the question.

What would change?

Edlow argues, however, that the citizenship test is currently too easy for applicants and that they can be guided through the process. He says the test shouldn’t be “impossible,” but rather should be more ideological than factual.

He said, “A simple question like, ‘Hey, name two federal holidays,’ and ‘Name one branch of government,’ or ‘Name your governor.’ That’s simply not enough. We need to know more, especially if we really want to understand whether someone has a genuine commitment to the Constitution as required by law.”

He also explained that an essay section could be added to the test, with more open-ended questions, allowing for more discretion in the assessment.

These essay questions could include topics such as “What does it mean to be American?” or “Who is your favorite founder?” Edlow told Axios.

Why is this happening?

Edlow argues that there is “fraud” in the naturalization process.

“I declare war on fraud,” Edlow said during the conference. “I declare war on anyone who comes to this country and wants a benefit, but doesn’t want to take responsibility for what it means to actually be an American citizen.”

He also said that USCIS is not just a service agency, but a “law enforcement agency,” something that has become increasingly clear with recent changes, including one enacted Thursday that expanded the agency’s enforcement capabilities, as well as its ability to issue expedited removal orders and investigate civil and criminal violations of immigration laws.

USCIS has long operated separately from immigration enforcement efforts, but recent changes suggest that the naturalization process will become part of the Trump administration’s overall crackdown.

Professor Daniel Kanstrom of Boston University School of Law says that changes to the test have been made several times, but adding an essay section to the citizenship test raises questions about how it is evaluated and who will administer it.

The changes come after USCIS issued a memo last month changing the standard for “good character” requirements in US citizenship applications, including screening for “anti-American” views. The August memo from USCIS called for “reinstating a rigorous and comprehensive standard for assessing good character” for immigrants applying for citizenship.

“The question boils down to: Are we an inherently open country or are we inherently closed? That’s the crux of the matter,” Kanstrom told TIME of the potential new citizenship test.

Kanstrom adds that there is a “contradiction” in the Trump administration’s definition of citizenship.

“What concerns me is that with this change in the test, there’s a view that citizenship is a valuable commodity, but there’s also the ‘golden card’ visa that Trump has given,” he says, referring to the visa Trump launched earlier this year that grants legal residency and employment in the United States for $5 million.