US immigration authorities placed an indefinite pause on applications from the 19 countries affected by the Trump administration’s expanded travel ban. A new USCIS memo went further than earlier restrictions by ordering an immediate hold on all asylum applications, regardless of nationality, and calling for a review of anyone from “high-risk countries of concern” who entered the US after 20 January 2021. The agency linked the shift to national security concerns raised after the Thanksgiving week shooting in Washington DC, in which an Afghan national who arrived in 2021 was charged with killing one National Guard member and critically injuring another.

The memo directed officials to compile within 90 days a prioritized list of immigrants for re-screening and possible referral to enforcement bodies. It cited both the Washington DC attack and the conviction of another Afghan national in an unrelated 2024 election-day plot as justification for stricter vetting. The policy applies not only to new applicants but also to people already inside the country when the June restrictions took effect. It also coincides with broader moves by the administration, including a halt on visas for Afghan nationals, stepped-up immigration raids, and ongoing legal fights over attempts to restrict birthright citizenship.

The June order had already fully blocked nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, while partially restricting entrants from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Immigration lawyers reported cancelled naturalization ceremonies and delayed interviews for people from these countries. Meanwhile, DHS launched new enforcement pushes such as Operation Catahoula Crunch, which it said targeted undocumented individuals with criminal histories. Yet government data showed that many of those detained during recent raids had no criminal record, and several US citizens were mistakenly arrested as well.