Citizenship Application

Here are some questions one must answer in order to apply for U.S. citizenship

"Have you ever been a member of or in any way associated with:

The communist Party

Any other totalitarian party

A terrorist organization

Have you ever advocated (either directly or indirectly) the overthrow of any government by force or violence

Have you ever persecuted any person because of race, religion, national origin, membership in a particular social group or political opinion?"

It then goes on to ask if you’ve ever been in direct relation with the Nazi party. Or any association with Germany during the Nazi regime.

I think the irony of asking "have you ever persecuted any person because of...national origin" is particularly rife. I assume the correct answer is "no," and that this application process does not count as persecution. I also can't tell if the advocation of the overthrow of any government by force or violence is something that would make you a bad candidate to be an American. I'd imagine that there are certain governments that would be considered acceptable to overthrow. What if the person was a member of a communist party, but only to start a ring of terrorists within the group with the party in order to overthrow the totalitarian regime? It seems like the application process is missing out on these very specific potential patriots.

Also, who is going to admit that they have been a member of a terrorist organization? That would be stupid.

The whole application is a good indication of the types of people The U.S. government considers "undesirable." Much like the type of people recent liberal legislation is hoping to crack down on with new reforms, while allowing for "better" processes for the desirable one. This is a time when I wish I had a good critique on how discourses on desirable versus undesirable immigration relied on racial and xenophobic histories that suck.

It later asks about things like prostitution and arrest record, an other example of the ways our frameworks for immigration our not created solely on racism and xenophbia, but gendered and sexual phobias are at play as well.

Fuck, it's been a minute since I've made myself think and write critically and complicatedly. I take solace knowing that no one is reading this.