The United States of America (USA) has halted immigration applications including green card and US citizenship processing for 19 countries.
President Donald Trump administration announced the halt on immigration applications for the stated countries on Tuesday, stating national security and public safety concerns.
A Reuters report states the latest policy move expands the partial travel restrictions introduced in June, a key part of Trump’s immigration agenda.
The memorandum announcing the pause refers to last week’s attack on the U.S. National Guard members in Washington, where an Afghan man has been arrested as a suspect.
One Guard member died and another was critically injured. Trump has also increased his criticism of Somalis, calling them “garbage” and saying “we don’t want them in our country.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has focused heavily on immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major U.S. cities and limiting access for asylum seekers at the U.S.–Mexico border.
While deportation efforts have been highlighted, the administration has said less about changes to legal immigration.
The new measures announced after the National Guard attack indicate a wider push tied to national security and criticism of former President Joe Biden’s policies.
The policy puts all pending applications on hold and requires immigrants from the listed countries to “undergo a thorough re-review process, including a potential interview and, if necessary, a re-interview, to fully assess all national security and public safety threats.”
We publish below, a full list of the affected countries below:
- Afghanistan
- Burma
- Chad
- Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
(Reuters)