US Suspends Immigration Processing for Citizens of 19 Countries Amid Security Review

The United States has suspended immigration application processing for citizens of 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, and Haiti, according to an internal memorandum released Tuesday. The move marks a significant escalation of the administration’s wider crackdown on migration.

The memo from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that green card and naturalization applications have been paused for nationals of countries already subject to travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump in June. The expanded list also includes Venezuela, Sudan, and Somalia.

Senior officials had recently signaled plans for sweeping new limits on immigration, an effort accelerated after last week’s shooting of two National Guard soldiers. One soldier died. The primary suspect—an Afghan national who arrived during the 2021 evacuation following the withdrawal from Afghanistan—pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Tuesday.

USCIS said it “plays an instrumental role in preventing terrorists from seeking safe haven in the United States,” warning that recent events showed “what a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications can do to the American people.”

Immigration attorneys said the freeze leaves thousands in uncertainty. “Even people who fully passed the citizenship exam are having their cases put on hold, just inches from the finish line,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a post on X.

In addition to the processing pause, the memo calls for a “comprehensive re-review” of individuals from the 19 countries who entered the U.S. after January 20, 2021.

Trump, who has campaigned on sweeping deportation promises, said after the shooting that he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signaled Monday that more nations could soon be added to the restricted list. “I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” she wrote on X, without specifying which countries she meant.

Current restrictions also apply to citizens of Burundi, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Turkmenistan.

Separately, U.S. media reported Tuesday that federal officials plan to begin a major immigration enforcement operation targeting Somali immigrants in Minnesota, prompting resistance from state and local leaders. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said local police would not participate. “Our values and our commitments to the Somali community, to every community of immigrants and people in our city, is rock solid and will be unwavering,” he said.