During the summer of 2026, I had the amazing opportunity to work as an Upstate Institute Summer Field School Fellow at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees. The Center is a not-for-profit organization located in Utica, NY that has served refugees and immigrants from more than 40 countries since 1981. The Center provides refugee resettlement, employment help, translation and interpretation, access to social services, English and citizenship classes, and one-on-one tutoring to help clients prepare for the naturalization process. Department of Justice-accredited legal staff also prepare and screen N-400 applications before filing, a level of support that is essential for the safety of clients, but that many comparable organizations do not offer. Because of the work of the Center, Utica has become a national hub for refugees, growing to have a particularly large Bosnian and Burmese community.
On Oct. 20, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under the Trump administration implemented a new, more challenging naturalization civics exam, replacing the 2008 exam that had been in use for nearly two decades. The new exam asks more questions, draws from a larger question bank, and requires a much greater degree of conceptual understanding. Around the same time, USCIS issued new policies that significantly expanded officer discretion, authorized neighborhood investigations of applicants, and introduced the possibility that a denied citizenship application could trigger deportation proceedings. These changes have significant consequences for real people who have already spent years building a life in a new country and are trying to take the final step of becoming citizens. That is the core of what motivated this research. The Center needs to stay up to date with these policy changes and adapt its program accordingly, because the stakes for clients are exceptionally high.
The goal of my project was to examine what the new exam and surrounding policies actually meant in practice, evaluate the Center's current resources, and identify recommendations for the Center so that it could continue helping clients pass their naturalization interviews at the exceptional rates it already does. By the end of my research, no clients at The Center had yet taken the 2025 exam, which made direct evaluation of the impact of the new exam difficult. Nevertheless, I was able to draw on a wide range of sources: USCIS national data, the Center's own client records, teacher interviews, and class observations to get an understanding of how the program is functioning and where it could be strengthened going forward.
Alongside the research, I contributed in other ways as well, including administrative work, updating the Center’s client database, working the front desk, and tutoring clients preparing for their naturalization interviews. As a political science major at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ, this experience gave me the chance to apply the research and analytical skills from my coursework to a project that directly affects people's lives. I was surprised by how much a single federal policy change can impact the lives of so many individuals, changing what teachers have to teach, what clients have to prepare for, and what it means to become a US citizen. I initially applied for the Field School because I saw this opportunity at the Center around an issue I genuinely care about, one I had seen affect my parents. I have really enjoyed being able to spend my summer in Upstate New York, and having the opportunity to explore this beautiful region. I’m happy to say that this research has deepened my interest in immigration law, and I do see myself doing similar work in the future.