On Tuesday, the Trump administration declared that it suspended all immigration applications such as green card and U.S citizenship processing of immigrants whose country of origin is among 19 non-European nations, arguing that they posed a national security and safety risk to the American populace.
The pause will concern individuals in 19 nations currently facing a partial travel ban that has been in effect since June and adds additional limitations to the immigration, which is among the central positions of the U.S. President Donald Trump.
Afghanistan and Somalia can be added to the list of countries.
The official memorandum describing the new policy uses the case of the attack on the U.S. National Guard members in Washington last week whereby an Afghan is arrested as a suspect. The shooting left one of the members of the National Guard dead and another man severely wounded.
Trump also increased his language towards Somali people, calling them garbage and declaring that we do not want them in our country in the recent days.
At the beginning of the second term in January, Trump has been actively working on immigration enforcement, deploying federal forces to large American cities and deporting asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. His government has also clearly emphasized the deportation push but up to date has placed less emphasis on change to legal immigration redesigning.
The rush of the guaranteed restrictions since the assault on the National Guard individuals indicates a higher level of emphasis on the immigration of people through the legal process under the banner of national security and holding former President Joe Biden liable due to his policies.
The list of the countries that will be the targets of the Wednesday memorandum includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, which in June have passed the toughest immigration restrictions of the list, full suspension of the entries under several exceptions.
Other countries in the list of the 19 countries that faced partial restrictions in June include Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The new policy freezes the applications pending and requires all immigrants on the list of countries to go through a rigorous re-review process, with potential interview and, as needed, re-interview, to assess in full all the national security and societal danger.
The memo has quoted some of the latest crimes that are believed to have been perpetuated by immigrants, such as the National Guard attack.
Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, the senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association claimed that the organization has gotten reports of cancelled oath ceremonies, naturalization interviews and adjustment-of-status interviews to those who were born in a country listed on the travel ban.
The latest restrictions imposed by Trump were in June, when he prohibited the entry of nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen in the US in full. He imposed a partial ban in Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
As the 4-page memor puts it, what has happened to the American people recently is the result of a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications, considering the Washington DC attack last week, as well as the conviction of another Afghan national, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who had planned an election day 2024 shooting in Oklahoma.
According to the memo, the role of USCIS is crucial in ensuring that the US does not want the terrorists to find a safe haven in the US, and that the screening and vetting of adjudications conducted by USCIS should be based on the safety of the American people and the enforcement of all laws of the US.
The 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal who was charged with the murder of one national guard member and the serious wounds of another sometime the previous day before the Thanksgiving day, was declared innocent on Tuesday.
It was after this attack that Trump declared he intended to permanently halt migration into the country of all its third world nationalities, and would terminate federal benefits to non-citizens and remove anyone who was not a net asset to the United States.
According to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, his department had suspended issuing visa to all Afghans.
The Trump administration is waging wars on immigration in various fronts. The president issued an executive order aimed at stripping anybody born in the US or to undocumented parents or visiting artisans of his or her birthright citizenship but was blocked by various federal judges.
He has also initiated violent campaign of immigration raids by federal agents in many cities leading to mass protests and arrest, detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Even though Trump campaigned that he would focus on the most egregious cases, statistics published by the government in September indicate that most immigrants in the immigration jails do not have a criminal history.
The homeland security department officials announced Wednesday the start of its newest enforcement search in New Orleans which they named catahoula crunch. According to a DHS memo, the move, a flood of federal border patrol, immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents, was aimed at criminal illegals roaming free due to sanctuary policies.
Some of the citizens of the US, though, have been scooped up in the government raids like a teenage high school student in Oregon and a Native American actor in Washington just during the past few days.
Those who are in support of immigration have also lamented the effect of Trump policies on individuals who want to enter into US through the process of legal immigration.
Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, the senior director of government relations of American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that his organization received reports of cancelled oath ceremonies, naturalization interviews as well as adjustment of status interviews of persons in countries on the travel ban list.
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