Green cards from 19 nations to be reviewed
By: Eduardo Cuevvas
and Carlie Procell
USA Today
..... Federal immigration officials are reexamining green cards issued to people form 19 countries considered "high risk" at President Donald Trump's direction. The decision, announced November 27 [2025] by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, followed the deadly, shooting of two National Guard members, Authorities say the suspect is an Afghan national.
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"At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,: USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said on X.
..... The agency's policy alert said the decision was effective immediately.
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The change affects anyone form the 19 countries who is applying for permanent residency and anyone form those countries with existing green cards.
..... USCIS said it issued new guidance for :negative, country-specific factors" to be considered when vetting people form Afghanistan, Burma, Burundndi, Chad, Congo Republic, Cuba, Equatoral Guinea, Ertrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmensitan, Venezuela and Yemen.
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In other words, the government could try to remove the legal status of people with green cards form those countries for reasons related to their country of origin other than anything they personally have done.
..... The USCCIS Policy Alert said it will consider "relevant country-specific facts and circumstances."
..... A June 4 [2025] proclamation by Trump, seeking to restrict entry form those 19 countries, cited by the USCIS guidance, included the consideration of a country's terrorist group activity, rates of people overstaying their visas in the United States, and the countries; ability to issue secure identity documents.
..... USCIA says the changes will allow its officers to better determine whether a person is a "threat to public safety and national security."
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Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, said the guidance appears ambitious about how the agency will make those determinations, other than that USCIA officials are getting more discretion.
..... The new policy applies to people applying for certain adjustments of status, like for a green card, as well as extending stays or changing status for non-immigrants, typically people in the country on a temporary basis. Potentially, officials could try to remove someone from the United States.
..... But, Selee said, it would be difficult for the government to remove people with permanent residency unless officials can prove to an mitigation judge that they pose a national security threat. The administration has tired to remove Pro-Palestinan students activists on those grounds, resulting in legal fights. Courts have given leeway in determining who gets legal status in the country in the first place, but they tend to be more strict on stripping that status away.
..... This may signal that people looking at permanent residency in the future may be more affected than those already with green cards.
..... Either way, the policy will almost certainly face legal challenges.