Shocking US Move Freezes All Immigration From 19 Non-European Nations Overnight

Thousands of individuals have been placed on hold as the US has put on hold all immigration applications of 19 non-European nations, curbing their hopes of getting a green card and citizenship. The order was issued under President Donald Trump, and this is after a shooting of an Afghan man by the Washington National Guard, which authorities attribute to the same. Even the families that are already in America do not know when the almost ready cases are being arrested in the middle. Immigration attorneys believe that this break might take weeks and months as security agencies conduct additional inspections on individuals from the impacted states. The question that is currently being posed by many migrants is what this will entail for their future planning, movement, and even stability in the US.

What the US Immigration Pause Actually Does?

The US suspends all immigration applications of 19 non-European countries in accordance with a new directive, which halts nearly all the cases related to these countries. The order includes green cards, US citizenship applications, and other immigration benefits adjudicated by the U.S. Citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) and associated agencies.

According to the authorities, the relocation is due to the issue of national security and civic safety following the shooting of two National Guard troops in the area close to Washington, in which an Afghan citizen has been detained as a suspect. One of the members of the Guard was killed and another severely wounded, which provided political impetus to long-standing proposals to tighten the process of vetting the nationals of chosen countries.

The newest suspension concerns individuals of countries already included in the US list of travel ban under a June order of this year. This implies that most of the migrants who had passed previous levels of the screening are undergoing another level of checks before their cases are determined.

Also Read: US Issues Over 1 Million Non-Immigrant Visas to Indians

Full List of 19 Non-European Countries Affected

The same 19 non-European high-risk countries are indicated in different outlets and official memos under which the pause is applicable. They are mostly in Africa, the Middle East, and some parts of Asia and Latin America.

• Afghanistan

• Myanmar (Burma)

• Chad

• Republic of the Congo

• Equatorial Guinea

• Eritrea

• Haiti

• Iran

• Libya

• Somalia

• Sudan

• Yemen

• Burundi

• Cuba

• Laos

• Sierra Leone

• Togo

• Turkmenistan

• Venezuela

How This Hits Immigrants: Green Cards, Citizenship, Asylum

USCIS has instructed its officers to freeze any benefit applications that are sent by nationals of these 19 countries. That includes:

• Green card applications that are based on family and employment.

• The cases of naturalisation (citizenship) include individuals who are already scheduled to take oaths.

• There are numerous other types of immigration, which are based on the nationality of a person and the type of case.

• An extension of the asylum suspension during a second examination.

In an internal memo, it states that officers should not consent, refuse, or even agree to oath ceremonies of affected nationals before further orders of the USCIS leadership. That hold will remain until further notice on another memo explicitly releases it, and exceptions must be top-level approved.

To families, it implies that now, there are no definite dates when reunification or naturalisation will take place, and there is no definite date when the hold-up will be over. Lawyers cautioned that work permits, travel permits, and subsequent visa applications can all be ensnared in the same security screening net of such applicants.

Also Read: Immigration Groups Prepare for Potential Second Trump Administration

Why the US Government Says it is Doing This?

The US freezes all immigration applications of 19 non-European nations as a security initiative that is directly related to the Washington National Guard Shooting. Policy memos connect the freeze to the necessity of the comprehensive re-evaluation of all the cases that are pending with the representatives of the travel ban countries.

According to the officials, every immigrant from the named countries will now undergo:

1. New biometric and biographic data Security check.

2. There is a potential new interview or re-interview.

3. Any past approvals granted post January 2021 can be looked at a second time.

The boundaries of these countries were already capped in the State Department and Department of Homeland Security following the June directive. This new action runs these boundaries into the very core of the domestic immigration regulation, which has an impact not only on the people currently residing in the US, but also on those currently overseas.

Political Context: Trump’s Harder Line on “High-Risk” Countries

This suspension falls into a wider Trump campaign to restrict immigration policy and add to the list of countries with a high level of travel restrictions. It is reported that Homeland Security is contemplating increasing the list of 19 countries to over 30 countries due to the shooting.

The president has also adopted strong words against certain communities, particularly Somali immigrants, describing them as garbage and saying they do not want them in the country. These remarks have given concern to the advocacy groups who believe that a wider range of discrimination at the community level can increase with changes in policies.

Also Read: Trump's Re-election Signals Potential Overhaul of H-1B Visa Program

Conclusion

The US is halting all applications of immigration to 19 non-European nations at an opportune time, and this is coupled with hard security messages, coupled with a blanket freeze of immigration that goes deep into the lives of families. The current situation is that applicants of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, Haiti, Libya, Yemen, and other countries mentioned on the list will have to wait a long time before being granted a chance, and will have to undergo additional interviews and background checks before being granted a chance. The extent to which the travel ban list may be extended and the length of this pause will determine the severity of the long-term blow to the migrants of these areas. For official policy text and updates, readers can visit the U.S. State Department visa news page. To know more about US immigration, visit TerraTern now!