USCIS halts immigration and naturalization processing for migrants from 19 ‘countries of concern’

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued new guidance pausing all immigration and naturalization processing for migrants from 19 countries labeled as “countries of concern.”

The directive means that even pending green card and citizenship applications from nationals of those countries will be halted and placed under review. In a memo released Tuesday, USCIS said that anyone from a country on the travel ban list who is already in the United States will have their applications for asylum or other immigration benefits paused.

"The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The New York Times. "We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern."

The memo follows last week’s shooting of two National Guard members near the White House. The suspect in that attack is an Afghan national who entered the United States under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome.

The 19 countries on the travel ban list include Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. The pause will remain in place until USCIS establishes new vetting procedures for nationals from those countries.

The Trump administration recently outlined substantial changes to the immigration system. Those changes include reviewing green cards issued to migrants from the listed countries, halting asylum decisions, and reassessing asylum approvals granted during the Biden administration. Homeland Security officials have defended the changes as essential for vetting individuals who are already in the US. The new rules announced last week could affect more than 1.5 million people with pending asylum applications and more than 50,000 individuals who received asylum grants during the Biden administration.

“Nothing is off the table until every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” USCIS said in a post on social media last week.