US halts immigration applications for 19 nations

AFP | Washington

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The US government has halted immigration applications for citizens from 19 nations including Afghanistan, Yemen and Haiti, an official memorandum said Tuesday, deepening a sweeping crackdown on migration.

Authorities paused green card and citizenship processing for people from countries already subject to travel restrictions announced in June by President Donald Trump, the memo from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said.

Other affected nations include Venezuela, Sudan and Somalia. Senior US officials had signaled in recent days they would dramatically tighten restrictions on immigration, a move fueled by the shooting of two National Guard soldiers last week.

The main suspect in the shooting, which killed one, is an Afghan national who entered the United States during mass evacuations as foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. He pled not guilty to murder charges on Tuesday.

The memo said USCIS “plays an instrumental role in preventing terrorists from seeking safe haven in the United States.”

The country had recently seen “what a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications can do to the American people,” it added, citing the Afghan murder suspect.

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said Monday she would push to expand the list of restricted countries.

“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 said on X, without naming which countries should be included.

US media reported Tuesday that federal authorities planned to launch a major immigration enforcement operation against Somali immigrants in Minnesota in the coming days, sparking pushback from local leaders who said state police would not cooperate.

“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,” said Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey.