The United States has halted all immigration-related applications from nationals of 19 countries currently included on President Donald Trump’s travel ban list, marking one of the administration’s most sweeping immigration actions since Trump declared he would “permanently pause migration” from “Third World Countries.”
In a notice, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an immediate pause on all “benefit applications” from individuals originating from the 19 designated “high-risk” nations.
The suspension applies not only to visa applicants abroad, but also to people already living inside the US who are undergoing immigration processes.
What the pause covers
The temporary freeze affects a wide range of immigration decisions, including:
- Green Card (permanent residency) applications
- Naturalisation (citizenship) applications
- Other immigration benefits normally adjudicated by USCIS
- All asylum decisions, reaffirming a stance the agency’s director, Joseph Edlow, outlined last week
The agency said the hold will remain in place until Edlow issues a follow-up directive lifting or modifying it.
USCIS to re-review Joe Biden-era arrivals
The notice also states that USCIS will conduct a “comprehensive re-review” of individuals from the 19 countries who entered the US on or after 20 January 2021, during the Biden administration.
This could include new interviews or re-interviews of applicants.
USCIS says this reassessment is necessary “in light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people.”
Which 19 countries are affected?
The pause applies to nationals of countries included in Donald Trump’s June executive order:
Full entry bans:
Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen
Partial restrictions:
Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela
More countries could be added
According to reports by CNN and Bloomberg, the White House is preparing to expand the travel ban to as many as 32 countries.
That list had not yet been released at the time of publishing.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem hinted at wider restrictions in an X post, saying she was recommending a “full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”
Background
The latest immigration clampdown follows the fatal shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC, in which the suspected gunman was identified as an Afghan national.
Trump responded by promising a sweeping halt to migration from “Third World Countries,” posting lengthy statements on Truth Social asserting, without evidence, that the US immigration system had “eroded” decades of technological progress.
He also repeated unsubstantiated claims about migrants posing national security risks and vowed to denaturalise those he says “undermine domestic tranquility.”
