Many immigrants' final legal step — citizenship — has become harder under the Trump administration

Green card holders are among the most thoroughly vetted individuals in the nation’s immigration system, but citizenship is currently uncertain for many of them.

Lawful permanent residents are seeing their naturalization ceremonies abruptly canceled this month as the Trump administration puts an indefinite “hold” on immigration applications from certain countries.

The holds apply to green card and U.S. citizenship requests by people from 19 countries deemed “high risk” by the Trump administration. The list includes Cuba, Iran, Haiti and Somalia, among others.

Lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, are already among the most thoroughly vetted individuals in the nation’s immigration system. When they decide to naturalize, they undergo an even more comprehensive government review that includes background checks, interviews with immigration officers and a citizenship test.

The citizenship ceremony is the last step in a long process that starts with having a green card for several years, submitting the application, paying hundreds of dollars in fees, completing an interview with an immigration officer, passing a background check as well as an English and civics test, all before finally taking the oath.

“If you’re scheduled for an oath ceremony, you have gone through all of the checks that are required,” said Deborah Chen, supervising attorney at the New York Legal Assistance Group’s immigrant protection unit.