There are approximately 25 million foreign-born individuals in the U.S. who are naturalized citizens. The country naturalized roughly 8 million citizens over the past decade. Last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services welcomed 815,500 new citizens during naturalization ceremonies.

To successfully secure U.S. citizenship, these individuals had to evidence GMC — "good moral character" — especially in the five years immediately preceding the filing of their applications.

'USCIS officers must account for an alien's positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct.'

Up until this month, GMC meant not having a record of certain criminal offenses — such as a murder conviction or an aggravated felony conviction — or of disqualifying conduct such as taking part in pro

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