Can Houston claim the ‘Citizenship Capital’ crown? The numbers – and the clock – say hurry

By: Nathaniel J. Greene

Houston marked National Citizenship Day – Sept. 17, 2025 – with a scoreboard and a warning. The region is courting the mantle of “Citizenship Capital,” posting one of the nation’s highest naturalization tallies even as a tougher civics test and broader screening guidelines are around the corner.

Houston’s field office accounted for 3.3 percent of all naturalizations in fiscal 2024, and the metro area ranked No. 5 nationally—26,300—by where new citizens live. Those gains, and the new hurdles, were laid out at a Houston Community Media briefing.

The current drive operates under Naturalize Now, Houston, a public-private coalition coordinated by the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) with Harris County, the City of Houston, and a network of community-based partners. Launched in 2023 with support from a local foundation, the effort aims to reach an estimated 300,000 eligible residents over three years.

Inside that push, Angie Dupree, one of NPNA’s campaign leads, sketched the scale of the street-level operation. The Citizenship Community Navigators, she said, have “been outreaching to about 118,000” people since last September, and “about… 10,000 applications” were submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the second quarter alone—part of why Houston has ranked first or second in “five of the past six” quarters.

“We had circles where people wanted to apply but were hesitant, especially with a lot of the new policies that were coming out,” said Janette Diep of Boat People SOS. One woman, she recalled, “just wanted to have someone to confirm that she was OK to apply… I think it only took her like a month… she was naturalized really fast.”

In classrooms, the barrier is often confidence rather than grammar.

“We’re building confidence, self-esteem… and digital literacy,” said Ashley Borjon of the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County. Older students asked, “Can I even accomplish this at this point in my life? I’m 64, I’m retired… Can I communicate it in confidence in English?” The surprise, she said: “They did not anticipate that they would be built up in ways they didn’t imagine.”

Trust is the other hinge. “Unity within diversity is the beauty and the strength of our country and our community,” said Salemu Alimasi of Co-AFRO. He, being from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also went through the process of obtaining American citizenship and helps others do the same.

The personal and the systemic collided in the story of one family from Alief. Daniela, who works for an immigrant resource hotline, stood beside her parents.

“It’s taken my parents about 25 years to get to where they are today,” she said. The final push came with rising anxiety. “The urgency was the elections,” she told the room, sharing that while voting was a priority, she also just wanted them to be safe.

If the numbers argue Houston is surging, the policy calendar argues residents should not wait.

“I feel like I’m the bad news…,” said Zenobia Lai of the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative (HILSC), before delivering the myth-busting line that ricocheted through the room: there “is no line” to citizenship for millions with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and DACA.

Lai explained that those programs are shields, not ladders; they provide temporary protection and work authorization but do not create eligibility for a green card and do not place someone “in line” for citizenship. To naturalize, a person must first become a lawful permanent resident through a separate pathway. That is why, Lai said, “Being an American citizen is the ultimate protection against deportation… Now is the time.”

What will change in mid-October for new N-400 filings is specific. Officers will ask 20 civics questions drawn from a 128-question bank; 12 correct answers are required to pass. USCIS guidance has also widened the lens on “good moral character,” emphasizing unlawful voting and false-claim issues, and field investigations under INA §335 can include interviews with neighbors or employers.

Cost remains a real barrier, particularly for multi-applicant households. “The filing fee just keeps going up… with the current $760… there are not that many families who can afford that,” said AJ Durrani of Emgage. He added that some applicants worry about “something in their background… which is not really problematic but which they think could be problematic if it’s drilled deeper.” Navigators and legal screenings, he said, help families weigh those concerns.

There is a safety net. The N-400 is $760 online, with a $380 reduced-fee option for some low- to moderate-income applicants and full fee waivers for those who qualify. Local partners can help cover remaining costs.

Residents can find workshops and navigator referrals at NaturalizeNow.org, or call HILSC’s Immigrant Resource Hotline at 1-833-HOU-IMMI (1-833-468-4664). A local guide is available at BecomeACitizenToday.com.