In the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new set of guidelines that will impact Green Card holders. The new policy guidance authorises USCIS officials to consider country-specific factors from 19 countries when reviewing immigration requests. This comes after authorities identified Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national as the accused for shooting incident near the White House, injuring two National Guard members. One of the guardsmen succumbed to gunshot wounds on Thursday, announced President Trump.
The Trump administration announced that it will review the immigration status of all Green Card holders from Afghanistan and 18 other countries. In an official statement released on Thursday, the USCIS emphasised, that it will consider relevant country-specific factors when using its broad discretionary authorities regarding aliens from 19 high-risk countries after halting refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and the entry of Afghan nationals in the first year of the Trump administration.
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Why has the measure been taken?
The policy guidance is effective immediately and applies to requests pending or filed on or after November 27, added the USCIS, which comes under the Department of Homeland Security. USCIS further stated that the updated guidance will strengthen USCIS' implementation of President Trump's Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10949, restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats. It will also allow USCIS officers to more meaningfully assess whether an alien is a threat to public safety and national security.
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USCIS Director Joseph Edlow stated that he has issued new policy guidance, aimed at safeguarding American citizens from aliens of high-risk countries. Edlow said, “Effective immediately, I am issuing new policy guidance that authorizes USCIS officers to consider country-specific factors as significant negative factors when reviewing immigration requests. American lives come first.”
“I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern," he stated on X.
Which are the countries?
When asked to specify the 19 countries, a USCIS spokesperson told AFP that President Donald Trump's June executive order lists 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.” The order bans almost all entry from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The 11 countries fully banned are: Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Trump also placed partial travel restrictions on seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
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