The US government has halted immigration applications for citizens from 19 nations, including Afghanistan, Yemen, and Haiti, according to an official memorandum, intensifying a sweeping crackdown on migration.
Authorities have 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) stated on Tuesday.
Other affected nations include Venezuela, Sudan, and Somalia.
Senior US officials had indicated in recent days that they would dramatically tighten restrictions on immigration following the shooting of two National Guard members last week.
The main suspect in the shooting, which resulted in one fatality, is an Afghan national who was trained by CIA in Afghanistan and entered the United States during mass evacuations as foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
He pleaded 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 prioritising expedient adjudications can do to the American people," it added, citing the Afghan murder suspect.
Some immigration law experts said the document had plunged many people into limbo.
"Even people who fully passed the citizenship exam are having their cases put on hold, just inches from the finish line," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a post on X.
Those whose applications have already been processed could also face more scrutiny, with the memo vowing a "comprehensive re-review" of nationals from the 19 countries who came to the United States after January 20, 2021.
Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the organiSation had received reports of cancelled oath ceremonies, naturalization interviews and adjustment of status interviews for individuals from countries listed on the travel ban.
Operation against Somali immigrants
Trump, who campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants, said following the shooting that he planned to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover."
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said on 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.
The travel restrictions currently also apply to Burundi, Chad, Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Turkmenistan.
US media reported 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.
Around 40,000 Minnesota residents were born in Somalia, according to US Census estimates.
Trump administration will deploy about 100 officers from across the country to support the operation, which will primarily focus on Somali immigrants with outstanding deportation orders.
Most Somali-Americans in the Minneapolis–St Paul region are either citizens, permanent residents or hold other legal status.
Trump in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting also criticised Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis in Congress and has long been one of his political targets.
He referred to Omar as "garbage" and said "her friends are garbage."
Omar responded: "His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs."
