US shuts down visas: 19 countries under new immigration ban
Shafaq News – Washington
The United States on Wednesday imposed an immediate suspension on immigration requests from citizens of 19 countries, reinstating core elements of President Donald Trump’s earlier immigration framework and widening restrictions introduced this year.
An internal memo from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for processing visas, asylum, and residency applications, lists Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, countries previously targeted under Trump-era limits and now placed under a full halt pending new security reviews.
The directive instructs officers to re-screen all pending and new applications through fresh interviews, updated biometric checks, and expanded background investigations, a process officials argue restores vetting thresholds they believe weakened under President Joe Biden.
The measure reflects Trump’s original approach shaped by the 2017 travel ban, a policy that faced extensive litigation before the Supreme Court upheld a revised version in 2018 linking immigration eligibility to national-security assessments, enhanced vetting, and financial-responsibility requirements commonly referred to as the “public charge” framework.
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Trump’s latest action follows his November 28 declaration that immigration from what he termed “Third World Countries” would be “permanently paused,” a broad and undefined category he indicated would apply retroactively to approvals issued between 2021 and 2024, placing several years of asylum and residency decisions under renewed examination.
The suspension accelerated after a deadly shooting near the White House involving Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national admitted in 2021 through the post-withdrawal evacuation program, whose case Trump used to argue that the current vetting system requires urgent correction after one soldier was killed and another critically wounded.
In response, Trump ordered federal agencies to review all asylum and Green Card decisions issued during the Biden administration, directing them to verify applicant identities, reassess potential security risks, and identify files that could be revoked under new standards.
On November 29, the administration escalated the overhaul by invalidating immigration documents approved with autopen signatures — a mechanical device commonly used in US federal offices — asserting that such signatures lacked proper authorization, while the White House countered that the practice remains fully legal and widely used for high-volume certifications.
Federal authorities then paused all asylum adjudications nationwide while designing new security protocols, effectively freezing case approvals until updated risk assessments are completed.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow conveyed that processing will resume only after the agency confirms that “every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” framing the suspension as part of a broader restructuring of the immigration system.
The State Department separately instructed consular posts to stop issuing visas to Afghan passport holders, shutting down a key pathway used during the 2021 evacuation as officials review how large numbers of evacuees were admitted following the US military withdrawal.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that Lakanwal’s admission exposed structural weaknesses in the evacuation program and noted that removal operations are being prepared for individuals admitted after August 2021 who may no longer meet updated eligibility standards.
She added that immigration from what the administration classifies as “high-risk countries” will remain suspended while security rules are redesigned, presenting the current actions as the opening phase of a broader enforcement strategy modeled on mechanisms used during Trump’s first term.
The White House confirmed that internal reviews are underway to identify individuals flagged as potential security threats and emphasized that removals will proceed “to the fullest extent of the law” once assessments conclude, anchoring the policy shift in legal and administrative precedents established between 2017 and 2021.
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