The U.S. government has launched a thorough review of all green cards issued to immigrants from 19 designated countries, following orders from President Donald Trump after an attack on two National Guard members in Washington, DC.
Joe Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, confirmed the directive to re-examine every green card from these “countries of concern.”
The list includes Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Many of these countries face challenges such as weak passport and identity document controls and political instability, which complicate thorough immigration vetting.
The review follows the shooting by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national granted asylum under the Biden administration’s “Operation Allies Welcome” programme. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has paused processing immigration requests for Afghan nationals and is also reviewing asylum cases approved during Biden’s presidency.
President Trump has announced intentions to impose a permanent pause on immigration from what he calls “Third World Countries,” aiming to end what he considers “illegal admissions” and remove individuals deemed security risks or not beneficial to the U.S. He also pledged to cease federal benefits for non-citizens and pursue deportations of migrants he sees as threatening domestic order.
The Alliance of Afghan Communities in the U.S. condemned the attack but warned against penalising other Afghan immigrants lawfully seeking residency. Over 190,000 Afghans have resettled in the U.S. since the military withdrawal in 2021, making these policy changes especially impactful.
This re-examination signifies a sharp tightening of immigration policy under Trump, focusing on national security and heralding shifts in how green cards and asylum approvals from these 19 countries will be handled going forward.