Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot naturalized citizens, even if they commit crimes.

Q. Is it true that a naturalized citizen cannot be deported for a crime committed after naturalizing? I have a nephew who was deported by ICE after he was convicted several times for drug possession. Could ICE have done that to a U.S. citizen?

Name withheld, New York

A. No. Naturalized citizens cannot be deported for actions taken, including criminal activity, after naturalizing.

Sometimes the U.S. government discovers that a naturalized citizen committed a crime before naturalizing that would have barred the person from getting U.S. citizenship. In those cases, the government can deport the individual but only after taking away U.S. citizenship, a process called “denaturalization.”

Taking away a person’s U.S. citizenship is difficult and rare. At one time, the law allowed for loss of U.S. citizenship through commission of what the law calls “an act of expatriation.” The government used to be able to take a person’s citizenship away for such acts as voting in a foreign election or joining a foreign government. Those rules no longer apply.

Today, naturalized citizens can lose citizenship only if they affiliate with a Communist, totalitarian or terrorist organization within five years of naturalizing, or if they are dishonorably discharged from the military before five years of service.

Q. I am 79 years old and I would like to become a U.S. citizen before I die. I’ve always had a problem with test-taking. Can I naturalize without first taking the U.S. government and history test?

Name withheld, Bordentown, N.J.

A. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can exempt you from the civic knowledge exam if you can prove that you are unable to pass the test because of a mental disease or defect. You would need a mental health professional to provide USCIS with a clinical diagnosis of a condition recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Naturalization applicants age 65 or over who have been a permanent resident for at least 20 years can take an easier test. The USCIS chooses from only 25 questions and you would need to answer only six out of 10.