New USCIS Rule Threatens LGBTQ Immigrants, Hands Officers Dangerous Discretion
Delray Beach, FL – Truth Wins Out today strongly condemned the new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy memorandum on “Good Moral Character” as dangerously vague and potentially discriminatory towards LGBTQ applicants for citizenship. While not specifically mentioning LGBTQ people, it creates an arbitrary and capricious system that mirrors immigration proposals for Project 2025, which is the right wing’s plot to disfigure American democracy and reshape it in their authoritarian image.
“The language in this memo is a loaded gun aimed directly at LGBTQ immigrants,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “It is vague, arbitrary, and capricious—giving immigration officers far too much unchecked power to impose their personal biases. For LGBTQ people, who have historically been demonized as immoral, this regulation is a flashing warning sign that our families and lives could once again be deemed unworthy of full American citizenship.”
The disturbing policy memo, issued August 15, 2025, instructs immigration officers to go far beyond statutory requirements and evaluate applicants for naturalization based on “holistic evaluation”:
Among other eligibility factors, aliens applying for naturalization must demonstrate that he or she has been and continues to be an individual of good moral character (GMC).
In evaluating whether or not an alien has met the requirement of establishing GMC the Officer must take a holistic approach in evaluating whether or not an alien seeking naturalization has affirmatively established that he or she has met their burden of establishing that they are worthy of assuming the rights and responsibilities of United States Citizenship.
This approach will empower USCIS officers to review the complete history of aliens seeking naturalization, where no regulatory or statutory bars exist, and require such aliens to present their full story, demonstrating how their life aligns with a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the current ethical standards and expectations of the community in which they reside.
Truth Wins Out is deeply concerned that the phrase, “demonstrating how their life aligns with a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the current ethical standards and expectations of the community in which they reside” could be weaponized to reject LGBTQ people—or those who are gender nonconforming that reside in conservative communities.
Our fear stems from the incontrovertible fact that the USCIS policy memo does not exist in isolation. It is part of a larger Project 2025 agenda. Many of the authors of Project 2025 are high-ranking Trump administration veterans now back in power, writing the playbook for policies like this one.
For example, the Heritage Foundation enlisted Ken Cuccinelli, former Acting Director of USCIS, to write its immigration and homeland security chapter. Cuccinelli has a long record of pushing draconian immigration controls and narrowing pathways to citizenship.
Another key figure is Gene Hamilton, regarded as second only to Stephen Miller in his zeal for restrictionist immigration measures. Together, Cuccinelli, Hamilton, and their colleagues literally authored the framework that USCIS is now carrying out in this new “moral character” memo.
“The fact that the very same architects of Project 2025 are now dictating immigration policy should alarm every American,” said TWO’s Besen. “They have made clear that their goal is to resurrect outdated notions of morality and enforce them on society—an approach that has historically been wielded as a weapon against sexual and gender minorities.”
Truth Wins Out is deeply concerned about specific elements of the new USCIS memo:
- “Family Responsibilities” – While framed as a positive factor, this language could easily be weaponized against LGBTQ immigrants because the Project 2025 crowd and its allies often refuse to recognize LGBTQ families as legitimate. A married same-sex couple raising children could find themselves discounted in the eyes of an officer influenced by far-right ideology.
- “Severe Violations of Religious Freedom” – In practice, this clause could be twisted to target LGBTQ activists. A gay immigrant who protested a church’s anti-LGBTQ stance could conceivably be labeled as violating someone else’s religious freedom—turning advocacy for equality into a strike against their moral character.
“These provisions are potentially Trojan horses,” said Besen. “On the surface, they sound neutral or even benign. In reality, they are invitations to discrimination, giving bigoted adjudicators free rein to deny LGBTQ people citizenship for reasons that have nothing to do with law and everything to do with prejudice.”
Historically, morality tests in immigration law have been used to exclude and stigmatize LGBTQ people. In the mid-20th century, homosexuals were deemed “psychopathic personalities” and barred from entry as immoral aliens. While Congress repealed such discriminatory provisions decades ago, the new USCIS policy revives their spirit by reinstating vague and open-ended moral standards.
“Once again, LGBTQ immigrants risk being judged not by the law, but by the prejudices of individual officers empowered to play moral arbiter,” said Besen. “That is fundamentally un-American and contradicts the principle of equal protection under the law.”
About Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to advance liberty and democracy, protect the rights of LGBTQ people and other minorities, combat religious extremism, and fight against the spread of disinformation.
Media Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Email: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
