United States President Donald Trump announced harsh measures against immigration in late November. “All asylum processing was suspended indefinitely until we can ensure that every alien is screened and screened to the maximum possible degree,” Joseph Edlow, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), posted on Twitter.
After this, further restrictions have been imposed on citizens of 19 countries. These include entry restrictions and suspension of all immigration applications and naturalization. Permanent residence and work permits, known as green cards, have also been suspended for people of the respective nationalities. USCIS chief Edlow said the president has also directed him to conduct a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern”, including holders of residence permits already granted.
What was the reason for the immigration action?
The background to these new policies is the attack on two National Guard soldiers in Washington on November 26. Two people were seriously injured by gunfire in the center of the US capital, and one of the victims later died. The suspected attacker, a 29-year-old Afghan, was arrested and charged with murder. According to media reports, he entered the US in 2021, the year of the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, having previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other US government agencies in his home country.
But the Trump administration’s recent response is in line with asylum and migration policies that have become increasingly harsh in recent months. The US president used the incident to once again sharply criticize immigration under Joe Biden, claiming that, like many others, the alleged killer had entered the country “unchecked” during his predecessor’s time in office.
But a US government file revealed the alleged gunman was actually granted asylum this year under Trump, Reuters reported.
Which countries are affected?
The immigration ban applies to citizens of countries on three continents. In Asia, this includes Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Laos. In Latin America, the ban applies to Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela. But most of the sanctioned countries are in Africa: Libya, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo and Burundi.
These are all the same 19 countries for which the US government had imposed an entry ban in June 2025. And these restrictions have now been tightened once again. They are considered “high risk” because US officials say they do not get enough reliable information about their citizens to conduct security checks. Many of these countries are also accused of failing to cooperate in taking back people who were required to leave the US.
How are immigrants affected?
The new restrictions will have far-reaching consequences for the individuals concerned: all green card application, naturalization and asylum processes have been halted for the time being. Affected people cannot proceed with their applications, even if they are already being processed. Even green card holders could lose their permanent residence status after the new security checks. In the worst case, they face deportation to their home countries.
This weekend, it was announced that the US government will also reduce the maximum validity period of work permits for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants from five years to 18 months.
Since all asylum applications are currently on hold, war refugees and people facing political persecution from around the world will no longer have safe haven in the United States. The additional issue of reuniting affected families is also now made extremely difficult or impossible as family members will no longer be allowed entry into the country.
But the American economy is also facing negative consequences as a result of these policies. The pause affects sectors that are heavily dependent on foreign workers, particularly in health, science and technology. Refusal to issue visas, green cards or work permits makes it difficult to import talent and skilled workers into these sectors.
Who has criticized these policies?
While the US government considers these measures to be necessary steps to protect national security, democratic lawmakers and human rights organizations have been critical. “Nothing meaningfully connects the 19 countries except the administration’s opportunistic stigmatization and exclusion of people based on their place of birth,” Tanya Green, Americas program director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “This sweeping change is not about security. It is about scapegoating entire nationalities to justify discriminatory policies.”
This article was originally written in German.