A reality show where immigrants compete for US citizenship? DHS is considering it.

Washington: The Department of Homeland Security is considering taking part in a television show that would have immigrants go through a series of challenges to get US citizenship, officials said on Friday.

The challenges would be based on various US traditions and customs, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the agency. She said the department was still reviewing the idea, which was pitched by a producer named Rob Worsoff.

“The pitch generally was a celebration of being an American and what a privilege it is to be able to be a citizen of the United States of America,” McLaughlin said. “It’s important to revive civic duty.”

She said the agency was happy to review “out-of-the-box pitches,” particularly those that celebrate “what it means to be an American.”

The project was reported earlier by The Daily Mail.

Worsoff, a 49-year-old Canadian American, said he first thought of the idea during his own naturalisation process. He said immigrants on the show would compete in challenges in various states. He said one challenge could be highlighting NASA in Texas or Florida and seeing which immigrant could assemble and launch a rocket first. There would also be trivia or civic challenges.

The show would end with someone being sworn in as a US citizen, Worsoff said.

“We need a national conversation of what it means to be American,” he said. “We need to be reminded of how proud and how much of an honor it is to be American.”

Worsoff said no one would be penalised in their immigration process or deported as a result.

“I think it’s nonsense because what’s going to happen is we’re going to get to know these people and their stories and their journeys, and we’re celebrating them as humans,” he said. “We’re putting a face to these people, to their journey.”

Worsoff said the actual details of what would happen on the show would depend on what TV networks wanted and what the Department of Homeland Security could do. He said he had pitched the idea to the agency before, including in 2012.

Under Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, the agency has often focused on publicity and reality-TV tactics to showcase President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

McLaughlin said the TV pitch had not yet reached the level of Noem. She said on social media that the department “receives hundreds of television show pitches a year,” including for documentaries about border operations and white-collar investigations.

“Each proposal undergoes a thorough vetting process prior to denial or approval,” McLaughlin added.

The department has worked with filmmakers on programming in the past.

In 2017, during the first Trump administration, the agency allowed documentary filmmakers extensive access to operations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for a program called “Immigration Nation.”