Immigration applications from 19 countries subjected to a travel ban by the Trump administration earlier this year have been paused indefinitely because of national security concerns, the US government agency that processes visas and green cards has said.
A policy memo posted Tuesday to the website of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), part of the homeland security department, also places an immediate “adjudicative hold” on all asylum applications regardless of a person’s nationality, and directs a review of aliens from “high risk countries of concern” admitted to the US after 20 January 2021, the first day of the Biden administration.
The aggressive new stance by immigration authorities follows the Thanksgiving week shooting in Washington DC of two national guard members, allegedly by an Afghan national who entered the country in September 2021 and was granted asylum by the Trump administration in April.
“USCIS remains committed to ensuring that all aliens from high-risk countries of concern that entered the US do not present threats to national security or public safety,” the memo said in part.
“This effort ensures that USCIS exercises its full authority to investigate immigration benefit requests filed by aliens who may pose risks.”
The move expands the travel ban on 12 non-European nations, and partial restrictions on seven more, implemented by Donald Trump’s executive order in June. It affects for the first time those already in the US when the ban went into effect, and exposes them to renewed scrutiny including new interviews.
USCIS said in its Tuesday memo that within 90 days it will create a prioritized list of immigrants for review and possible referral to immigration enforcement or other law enforcement agencies.
In June, Trump “fully” restricted nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, from entering the US. He issued a partial restriction for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“Recently, the US has seen what a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications can do to the American people,” the four-page memo states, citing last week’s Washington DC attack and the conviction of another Afghan national, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, for plotting an election day 2024 shooting in Oklahoma.
“USCIS plays an instrumental role in preventing terrorists from seeking safe haven in the US and ensuring that USCIS’ screening and vetting and adjudications prioritize the safety of the American people and uphold all US laws,” the memo said.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old suspect accused of killing one national guard member and seriously wounding another the day before Thanksgiving, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Trump stated after that attack that he planned to “permanently pause migration from all third world countries” and would end federal benefits to non-citizens, as well as removing “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States”.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said his department had paused the issuance of visas to all Afghan nationals.
The Trump administration is fighting immigration battles in several areas. An executive order by the president seeking to remove birthright citizenship from anybody born in the US to undocumented parents or temporary visitors was blocked by several federal judges.
He has also embarked on an aggressive series of immigration raids by federal agents in numerous cities, prompting mass protests and the arrests, detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of people. Despite Trump’s pledge to target “the worst of the worst”, government figures released in September show the majority of those being held in immigration jails have no criminal records.
Officials from the homeland security department announced Wednesday the launch of its latest enforcement operation in New Orleans, which it dubbed Catahoula Crunch. A DHS memo said the action, a surge of federal border patrol and immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents, was targeting “criminal illegal aliens roaming free thanks to sanctuary policies”.
A number of US citizens, however, have been rounded up in the government’s raids, including a teenage high school student in Oregon and a Native American actor in Washington in just the last few days.
Immigration advocates have also decried the impact of Trump’s policies on people seeking to come to the US legally.
Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Reuters his organization had received reports of cancelled oath ceremonies, naturalization interviews and adjustment of status interviews for individuals from countries listed on the travel ban.
