Study finds that white applicants more likely to be approved for citizenship than non-white applicants

disparities by race/ethnicity, gender, and religion are evident

A recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences finds that Non-White applicants and Hispanic applicants are less likely to be approved than non-Hispanic White applicants, male applicants are less likely to be approved than female applicants, and applicants from Muslim-majority countries are less likely to be approved than applicants from other countries. In addition, race/ethnicity, gender, and religion interact to produce a certain group hierarchy in naturalization approvals. For example, the probability of approval for Black males is 5 percentage points smaller than that of White females. The probability of approval for Blacks from Muslim-majority countries is 9 percentage points smaller than that of Whites from other countries. The probability of approval for females from Muslim-majority countries is 6 percentage points smaller than that of females from other countries.

"One possible explanation for the disparities uncovered here might stem from discretionary components of naturalization adjudication... Another possible explanation might relate to persistent structural inequalities in other domains of American social life. For example, if higher denial rates are associated with certain types of criminal history (a hypothesis we cannot test given the lack of reliable data on applicants’ criminal history), the group disparities we have presented here may be reflective in part of policing and other criminal justice practices that disproportionately impact certain groups, such as Black and Latino immigrant men and Black Muslims."

[Note: The report does not indicate whether data on citizenship test pass rates was analysed for disparities in race, gender or religion.]

Read the study here: https://www.pnas.org/content/119/9/e2114430119

Posted: to Citizenship News on Sun, Feb 27, 2022
Updated: Sun, Feb 27, 2022