The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump took a new package of measures on Tuesday to curb immigration to the United States by suspending all immigration applications from citizens of 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, and Sudan.
The latest move came after U.S. officials recently indicated they would significantly tighten immigration restrictions following a shooting that killed a National Guard soldier and wounded a colleague last week. The suspect in the incident is an Afghan citizen.
A memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stated that authorities have suspended processing applications for permanent residency (Green Cards) and citizenship for citizens of 12 countries who have been barred from traveling to the United States since June. These countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, along with citizens of seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The main suspect in the shooting that occurred in Washington near the White House on November 26 is an Afghan national who entered the United States as part of the large-scale evacuation conducted during the withdrawal of foreign forces from his country in 2021.
He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the charges of murder.
The memo stated that USCIS "plays a pivotal role in preventing terrorists from finding safe haven in the United States."
The memo also noted that the United States has recently experienced "what the absence of scrutiny and prioritization of expedited processing can cause to the American people," citing last week's shooting as an example.
Uncertainty
Some immigration law experts have said that the document has left many in a state of uncertainty.
Aaron Richlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council posted on X: "Cases are being suspended for people who have already passed the full citizenship exam and were just meters from the finish line."
Individuals whose applications have already been processed may face additional scrutiny, as the memo commits to a "comprehensive review" of the status of citizens from the 19 countries who arrived in the U.S. after January 20, 2021.
Trump, who pledged during his election campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants following the Washington shooting, announced his intention to "permanently stop immigration from all third-world countries to allow the American system to fully recover."
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Monday that she would seek to expand the list of countries subject to restrictions.
She wrote on X: "Just met with the President. I am calling for a full travel ban on any country that is flooding our nation with killers, trespassers, and entitlement addicts," without specifying which countries should be included in the ban.
U.S. media reported on Tuesday that federal authorities are planning a major operation to enforce immigration laws against Somali immigrants in Minnesota in the coming days, to which local leaders responded by announcing that state police will not cooperate.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said: "Our values and commitments to the Somali community and to every immigrant and person in our city are solid and will not shake."
