Dramatic decline in people becoming new citizens in Chicago area this year, data shows

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Since January, there has been a shocking drop in new naturalizations, declining by more than 80% in the Chicago area ahead of a major midterm election.

Becoming a new U.S. citizen is one of the most solemn and joyous moments on the immigrant journey.

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Isabella Kulikowska, originally from Poland, has been working towards her citizenship for 25 years.

"It was a long process and I'm really happy and grateful to be a citizen," Kulikowska told the I-Team.

Francisco Rivera, from Mexico, also became a new citizen at a recent naturalization ceremony in Chicago and was overjoyed.

"I'm very excited...very, very excited," said Rivera.

Luv Dhody said he has been striving for this moment for two decades.

But while he and his wife applied for citizenship at the same time, she is still waiting.

Dhody is hardly alone. Just a few years ago, there were multiple naturalization ceremonies in the Northern District per week, some even packing Wrigley Field.

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But federal data from the Northern Illinois District Court analyzed by the I-Team shows a precipitous drop in new naturalization ceremonies in 2026 compared to the last four years, from a high of nearly 33 thousand in 2022 to just under 38 hundred so far this year.

"When i saw the numbers that you had shared...I was floored, said Kathleen Vannucci. She is an immigration attorney and says that drastic drop is part of a processing slowdown by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services even as fewer people are applying for citizenship altogether.

"They've completed only 40% in terms of the numbers of cases from a year ago, which is is scary. What that leads to are just the continued backlogs and unnecessary delays in adjudicating these citizenship cases," Vannucci told the I-Team. She says the reason for slowed down processing from the feds is unclear but has serious consequences. "It leads to uncertainty...and fears in the community."

Virginia Kendall is the chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois. She said she has seen firsthand the impact of processing delays. "To see the pride that they have because they've worked so hard to get to this point of naturalization, so that's a shame when we don't have those same numbers that we used to have."

Vannucci said she has clients applying for citizenship, who are already legal residents, that have become increasingly wary of traveling.

"The administration does not want to see high numbers of new citizens, and so I think this is a result of what their overall goal," said Vannucci.

That means a difficult process that can take decades becomes even longer.

"It delays these individuals from taking part in the full civic life of a United States citizen. So many individuals filed with plenty of time in the hopes that their case would be adjudicated to be able to vote in the upcoming elections in November, and now it seems like that dream is not necessarily going to become a reality," said Vannucci.

As Dhody celebrates his new citizenship, the wait for his wife continues.

"We wanted to do it together," Dhody told the I-Team.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services turned down our request for an interview. But in a statement to the I-Team USCIS Spokesman Zach Kahler said, "For years, the Biden administration prioritized rubberstamping aliens' applications for U.S. citizenship with minimal vetting. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, under the leadership of President Trump, is implementing rigorous screening and vetting processes across the country. USCIS will not take shortcuts in the naturalization process."