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Asylum pause puts lives on hold

U.S. policy shifted after Guard member shot

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... In one of the most sweeping immigration shifts in years, the Trump administration has ordered an immediate nationwide halt to pending asylum cases and suspended key immigration benefits for non-citizens from 19 countries deemed "high-risk."
..... Under the directive, all asylum cases are paused nationwide while U.S. citizenship and Mitigation Services conducts a broad security review.
..... The policy also suspends immigration applications from individuals from the 19 listed countries who entered the United States during the Biden administration. Additionally, some recent green card and asylum recipients may face renewed security vetting.
..... USCIA announced the new directive in a December 2 [2025] policy memo. the agency cited concerns about national security and public safety after the shooting f two National Guard members in Washington, DC, on November 26 [2025] by a suspect of Afghan nationality. One Guard member was killed and another seriously wounded.
..... The new policy places an immigrate hold on all pending asylum application, regardless of county of origin.
..... It also suspends immigration applications for individuals from 19 countries it considers "high risk" who have entered since January 20, 2021. they are:
* Afghanistan.
* Burundi.
* Chad.
* Republic of the Congo.
* Cuba.
* Equatorial Guinea.
* Eritrea.
* Haiti.
* Iran.
* Laos.
* Libya.
* Myanmar.
* Sierra Leone.
* Somalia
* Sudan.
* Togo.
* Turkmenistan.
* Venezuela.
* Yemen.

..... The same countries were listed in a travel ban that President Donald Trump unveiled in June. [2025] It included a full ban on 12 countries and a partial ban on the other seven.
..... Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week [12/04/2025] that plans are underway to expand the travel ban to more than 30 countries.

Applications frozen

..... For immigrant form those countries , the directive suspends processing of applications, including for green cards, citizenship asylum and travel documents.
..... People who have already perceived approval for their mitigation benefit requests may see their cases reopened and reexamined and could be called in for new interviews. The purpose, said USCIS, is "to fully assess all national security and public safety threats along with any other related grounds of inadmissibility."
..... In recent days, immigrates from those countries have reported that their interviews have been canceled or they were not able to participate in citizenship ceremonies

How long will it last?

..... The length of the freeze is unknown. USCIS said in the memo that the freeze is needed to allow for a "comprehensive review" of individual cases and of the agency's security and vetting policies.
..... USCIA said it will create a priority list of cases for review, interviews and referral to mitigation authorities or law enforcement agencies within 90 days. The agency also intends to issue "operational guidance" within 90 days.
..... The freeze on benefit requests could lead to significant delays, additional scrutiny and possible denials or cancellations, advocates warn.

National security claims

..... In its memo, USCIA said the order "aims to safeguard US citizens from aliens who may seek to commit terrorist acts, pose threats to national security, promote hateful ideologies, or exploit mitigation laws for malicious purposes."
..... USCIA cited violent incidents involving immigrants, pointing to the shooting of the two National guard officers in Washington.
..... The memo did not define what the administration considers "hateful ideologies." but it dovetails with one of Trump's first executive orders in his second term, titled "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorist and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats." The order calls for action to ensure that non-citizens living in the United States "do not bear hostile attitudes towards its citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles" and "do not advocate for aid or support designated for4eign terrorist and other threats to national security."
..... USCIA updated its policy manual in August [2025] to broaden discretionary review of immigration benefits, noting that expression of views deemed anti-American or antisemitic can lead to denials.

Hostile rhetoric

..... The Trump administration, immigration advocates said, has used the shooting to escalate false and hostile rhetoric against immigrants from countries it deems undesirable. Trump, in social media posts, blamed refugees for causing "social dysfunction in America," including "failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortage, and large deficits, etc."He reported false claims that most foreign-born people in the United States are from "prisons, mental institutions, gangs , or drug cartels." He has called Somali immigrants :garbage."
..... Noem said she wanted a full travel ban "on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies."
..... The rhetoric isn't just dehumanizing and xenophobic, advocates said. it also promotes false tropes. Bodies of research show that immigrants boost the U.S. economy by expanding the labor force, increasing consumer spending and starting new businesses. it also shows hat they commit crimes at far lower rates than people born in the United States.
..... "The Trump administration is using the recent shooting in DC as a protext for a dangerous escalation of this attacks on immigrants that are rooted in racism and xenophobia," Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.
..... "Many of the immigrants affected by these policy changes have already undergone extensive vetting, often taking years, after having arrived in America seeking persecutory stability, and the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Their futures are now in chaos ... We urge members of Congress to condemn the Trump administration's actions and call on the Trump administration to reverse course."

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