Donald Trump’s administration has suspended all immigration applications from citizens of 19 countries, restricted travel to the United States this year, and halted the processing of green cards and U.S. citizenship, according to administration officials.
The suspension applies to people from Iran, Sudan, Eritrea, Haiti, Somalia and other countries Trump banned in June. They are seeking legal status with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the immigration system. The list includes some of the world’s poorest and most unstable countries.
The measure deepens a noticeable crackdown on immigration following the attack on two National Guard members in Washington last week. Authorities identified Rahmanullah Lakkanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who was granted asylum in April, as the suspect in the attack. The changes have already closed many remaining legal immigration avenues in the United States, but the suspension of applications suggests the administration is far from finished.
“The Trump administration is doing everything we can to ensure that the individuals who become citizens are the best of the best,” said Matthew Tragesser, a spokesman for USCIS, who confirmed the stop on Tuesday. “Citizenship is a privilege, not a right.” “We will not take any chances when our nation’s future is at stake.”
The moratorium applies to many immigration processes, especially applications for green cards and U.S. citizenship. Immigration lawyers reported cancellations of naturalization ceremonies and immigration status interviews, and said they were stunned Tuesday when immigrants were denied interviews for green cards and other forms of assistance without any explanation.
Ana Maria Schwartz, an immigration attorney in Texas, said that two of her firm’s clients from Venezuela discovered upon arriving at the USCIS regional office in Houston that their interviews had been canceled for no apparent reason. Other attorneys have reported that applicants who had waited months, sometimes years, for their interviews suddenly found their appointments deleted from the system without any guidance on how to proceed, she said.
She said the temporary halt would put more pressure on a system already suffering from delays. “Everything has been put on hold,” Schwartz said. “It’s like a traffic jam, and it’s only going to get worse.”
A doctor represented by her office colleague was scheduled to take the citizenship oath and undergo a naturalization ceremony this week, but was notified it was canceled, said Elissa J. Taub, an immigration attorney in Tennessee. Taub said the client, who holds a US green card, was born in Iran but moved to Canada as a teenager and was able to continue traveling despite the ban due to his Canadian citizenship.
“We have heard through our network of immigration attorneys that this is not an isolated case,” she said. “Naturalization oath ceremonies for people from Venezuela and Iran have been cancelled.”
Trump administration officials announced sweeping changes to the immigration system in recent days, including reviewing green cards granted to people from countries subject to travel bans, suspending asylum decisions and reevaluating asylum grants granted under the Biden administration.
Department of Homeland Security officials called for major changes needed to increase screening of individuals already in the country. “Nothing is off limits until all aliens are screened and screened to the greatest extent possible,” USCIS said in a social media post.
Lakanwal arrived in the United States during the Biden administration under a program that allowed the entry of Afghan citizens who fled the country after the Taliban seized power in 2021.
New rules announced last week could already affect more than 1.5 million people with pending asylum claims and more than 50,000 who received asylum grants during the Biden administration. It is unclear how many people from countries on the no-fly list were awaiting required immigration status.