Pause, including Afghanistan and Somalia, indicates plan to tie US security to increased focus on legal immigration
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it had paused all immigration applications, including green card and US citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public safety.
The pause applies to people from 19 countries that were already subjected to a partial travel ban in June, placing further restrictions on immigration – a core feature of Donald Trump’s political platform.
The list of countries includes Afghanistan and Somalia.
The official memorandum outlining the new policy cites the attack on US National Guard members in Washington last week in which an Afghan man has been arrested as a suspect. One member of the national guard was killed and another was critically wounded in the shooting.
