US Suspends Immigration Applications from 19 Countries

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it has paused all immigration applications, including green cards and U.S. citizenship cases, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries. Officials said the decision stems from national security and public safety concerns and expands restrictions first introduced under a partial travel ban in June.

The pause affects applicants from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, which already faced the strictest limits earlier this year, including near-total entry suspensions.

It also applies to Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, which had previously been under partial restrictions.

The administration linked the decision to last week’s attack on U.S. National Guard members in Washington, where an Afghan man was arrested as a suspect. One Guardsman was killed and another critically injured.

The memorandum outlining the policy cites several recent crimes allegedly involving immigrants and says all applicants from the listed countries must undergo a “thorough re-review process,” which may include new interviews.

The move comes as former President Donald Trump intensifies immigration enforcement since returning to office in January, deploying federal agents to major cities and blocking asylum seekers at the U.S.–Mexico border.

While the administration has repeatedly promoted its deportation agenda, it had placed less emphasis on legal immigration until now.