Trump Administration Pauses Immigration Applications from 19 Countries Amid Security Concerns:

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has temporarily halted all immigration applications, including green card and U.S. citizenship requests, for immigrants from 19 non-European countries. The move, officials say, is aimed at addressing national security and public safety concerns. The pause affects countries that were already partially restricted under a travel ban implemented in June. Among the nations on the list are Afghanistan and Somalia, reflecting a continuation of the administration’s hardline immigration policies, a key focus of President Donald Trump’s political platform. An official memorandum outlining the new policy cited last week’s attack on U.S. National Guard members in Washington, D.C., as a motivating factor. An Afghan man has been arrested in connection with the incident, in which one National Guard member was killed and another critically injured. President Trump has also intensified rhetoric targeting Somali immigrants in recent days, referring to them as “garbage” and asserting, “we don’t want them in our country.” Since taking office in January, Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority, deploying federal agents to major U.S. cities and restricting asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. While previous efforts emphasized deportations, the administration is now placing more attention on limiting legal immigration, linking it to national security concerns and criticizing former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. The memorandum lists 19 countries subject to the pause, including Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, which faced the strictest restrictions in June, including near-total entry bans with limited exceptions. Additional countries on the list—Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela—were previously under partial restrictions. Under the new policy, pending applications from immigrants from these countries will undergo a comprehensive re-review process. This may include additional interviews or re-interviews to assess potential threats to national security and public safety. The memorandum cited several recent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants, including the attack on National Guard members in Washington, as justification for the policy. Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), noted that the organization has received reports of disrupted immigration processes. These include cancelled oath ceremonies, postponed naturalization interviews, and delayed adjustment of status interviews for individuals from the countries affected by the travel restrictions. Immigration advocates have raised concerns that the new policy could create long delays for applicants and exacerbate existing backlogs in the U.S. immigration system. Critics also argue that linking immigration to national security risks based on nationality may unfairly target entire populations rather than focusing on individual threats. The administration’s latest move signals a stronger focus on controlling legal immigration alongside its broader enforcement agenda, reflecting a central theme of Trump’s presidency. With implementation underway, affected applicants may face prolonged uncertainty while federal authorities reassess their cases.

NEWS