US suspends immigration applications from nineteen nations
The US government has temporarily halted all pending asylum claims and immigration benefit requests from nationals of 19 designated “high-risk countries,” according to a new policy issued Tuesday by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The directive instructs agency staff to “place a hold on all Forms I-589 (Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal), regardless of the alien’s country of nationality, pending a comprehensive review.” It also directs officers to “place a hold on pending benefit requests for aliens from countries listed in Presidential Proclamation 10949…pending a comprehensive review, regardless of entry date.”
The policy additionally requires a “comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests” for nationals of the affected countries who entered the US on or after Jan. 20, 2021. Those impacted will undergo renewed screening, which may include “a potential interview and, if necessary, a re-interview, to fully assess all national security and public safety threats.”
The proclamation cited in the memo limits entry from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and imposes partial restrictions on Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The move follows calls by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for stricter immigration measures after last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. Reports indicate the suspect, a 29-year-old Afghan national granted asylum in April, arrived in the US in 2021 during the withdrawal from Afghanistan and had previously worked with multiple US government agencies, including the CIA.
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