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The Trump administration has suspended all pending asylum applications and immigration benefit requests filed by nationals of 19 “high-risk countries,” according to a new policy memorandum issued Tuesday by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The directive instructs agency personnel 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 orders 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.”
In addition, the memo mandates a “comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests” for nationals of the 19 countries who entered the United States on or after Jan. 20, 2021.
Those subject to the policy will undergo renewed vetting, including “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 restricts entry for citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It also imposes partial restrictions on entry from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The move follows calls by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for a tougher immigration crackdown after the fatal shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week.
The suspect, a 29-year-old Afghan national granted asylum in April, entered the United States in 2021 following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and had previously worked with multiple U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, according to U.S. media reports.
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