In an Native America and in full recruitment of anti-immigration discourse, a television producer proposed to the Department for Internal Security (DHS) a concept that seems detached from an episode of dystopian satire: a reality show in which immigrants would compete, through eliminatory evidence, to obtain American citizenship.
Driving the Oath of the United States/ Photo: X
The proposal belongs to Rob Worsoff, a producer with experience in entertainment television-known for shows such as The Millionaire Matchmaker or Duck Dynasty. He told CNN that his idea would represent “a celebration of America” and a way to “put a face” on the phenomenon of immigration, also stating that he is also immigrant, originally from Canada.
“It is about patriotism and civic debt. An opportunity to show the process of integration through a popular and accessible lens,” Worsoff said.
The idea, presented by TV producer Rob Worsof and reported by The Guardian, provides for an hour's episodes in which participants will go through evidence inspired by American history and culture, culminating with a solemn moment: taking the oath of the United States.
According to a statement sent to Time magazine by Tricia Mclaghlin, deputy secretary responsible for the public communication of the DHS, the Agency receives annually “Hundreds of proposals for TV shows”, from documentation about border operations to economic investigations. Worsof's idea is, at least formally, in this flow of initiatives, but has not been officially approved or rejected.
“We are open to unconventional approaches, but each proposal is carefully evaluated. This show does not currently have the support of DHS nor of Secretary Kristi Noem, who was not even informed about it.”said McLaughlin.
Citizenship, subject to folk vote?
According to Worsoff, the show format-which has the provisional title The American-would involve competitive style: from Pizza in New York to Assembly a Florida missile model and challenges inspired by gold in California. Each episode would end with a public vote, in a formula similar to the presidential elections, whereby viewers would choose your favorite candidate to receive American citizenship.
“People in Tennessee, say, will decide what participant most deserves to become American.”explained Worsof.
The proposal comes at a time when the Trump administration adopts a hard line regarding immigration, involving in multiple legal battles to restrict the right to citizenship by birth, to accelerate deportations and to reform the right to asylum.
At the same time, the New York Times reported that DHS had requested 20,000 members of the National Guard to supplement the deportation forces, in the context of the new Trump administration strategy to increase the pressure on immigrant communities.
Between entertainment and cynicism: Reactions in Congress
Although Worsoff argues that his initiative has nothing in common with “a hunt for people” and that he aims to demitize the process of obtaining citizenship, the reactions in the American public and political space were vehement.
“It's a sick idea ””said the democratic congressman Joaquin Castro in an intervention at MSNBC. “Every day, under this administration, we lose a little of our humanity. To turn the struggle for a better life into a reality show and a form of cruelly masked in entertainment.”
Congressman Jerry Nadler was just as sharp: “People's lives are not proposed for TV shows.”
Dangerous game with the symbols of democracy
Even though DHS states that he has not yet analyzed this proposal in detail, his mere existence raises questions about the trivialization of essential themes in a democratic society: the right to citizenship, the process of integration, respect for individual dignity.
In a time when the US political polarization is extremely accentuated, and the anti-immigration rhetoric becomes more aggressive, such a format may become not only a simple form of poorly calibrated entertainment, but a tool for affective public manipulation-in which the complex process of naturalization is reduced to mass and folk vote.
More serious is that, despite critics, such ideas are increasingly resonating with part of the American public. The desire to “spectacularize” everything related to politics, administration or public life creates a fertile ground for such initiatives, in which the border between satire, reality and propaganda becomes thinner.
Although it seems like a new idea, the project was initially proposed during the Obama administration, then resumed in Trump and Biden's mandates. Former reality show and current President Donald Trump would not be a stranger to the show logic, but the approach comes at a time when his anti-immigration policy was increasingly challenged, including for mass deportations and controversial cases involving minors.
The creator of the proposed show, Rob Worsoff, claims that the idea has started from their own naturalization experience and that the evidence will not be “The Hunger Games”. No one will be deported if he loses, he says. The contest would symbolically start on Ellis Island, the old point of entry of immigrants into the US, and one of the samples could involve the assembly of a rocket inspired by NASA missions.
