Trump administration halts immigration applications for citizens from 19 travel-ban nations

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is pausing all immigration applications, including requests for green cards, for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops.

The changes were outlined in a policy memo posted Tuesday on the website of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with processing and approving all requests for immigration benefits.

The pause puts on hold a wide range of immigration-related decisions, such as green card applications or naturalizations for immigrants from those 19 countries that the Trump administration has described as high-risk. It’s up to the agency’s director, Joseph Edlow, on when to lift the pause, the memo said.

The administration in June banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns.

The ban applied to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen while the restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

At the time, no action was taken against immigrants from those countries who were already in the U.S. before the travel ban went into effect.

But now the news from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services means those people already in the United States — regardless of when they arrived — will come under extra scrutiny.

The agency said it would conduct a comprehensive review of all “approved benefit requests” for immigrants who entered the country during the Biden administration.

The agency cited the shooting of two National Guard troops, allegedly by an Afghan national, as a reason for the pause and heightened scrutiny for people from those countries. One National Guard member was killed and another wounded in the Thanksgiving week shooting a few blocks from the White House.

“In light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people, USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 is necessary,” the agency said.

The agency said in the Tuesday memo that within 90 days it would create a prioritized list of immigrants for review and if necessary, referral to immigration enforcement or other law enforcement agencies.

Since the shooting, the administration has announced a flurry of decisions it was taking to scrutinize immigrants already in the country and those seeking to come to the United States.

Last week, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a social media post that his agency would be reexamining green card applications for people from countries “of concern.” But the policy directive Tuesday goes further and lays out in more detail the scope of who will be affected.

The agency also said last week that it was pausing all asylum decisions, and the State Department said it was halting visas for Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort.

Days before the shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a separate memo that the administration would review the cases of all refugees who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration.

Critics have said that the Trump administration’s actions have amounted to collective punishment for immigrants.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.