As part of a comprehensive examination of immigration records, the United States has announced plans to reexamine all green cards given to citizens of 19 other nations.
The action is a part of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after an Afghan suspect called Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot two members of the national guard.
The head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Joe Edlow, stated in an X post on Thursday, “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.”
“The American people will not pay the price of the previous administration’s careless resettlement policies, and the safety of this country and the American people is essential. Safety in America cannot be compromised.
Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela are among the 19 nations.
The USCIS stated that it will now consider “negative, country specific factors,” such as the nation’s capacity “to issue secure identity documents,” when screening applicants from those 19 nations.
All immigration requests pertaining to Afghan nationals will no longer be processed, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while security and vetting procedures are reviewed. The ruling takes effect right away.
Additionally, according to the DHS, the government is examining every asylum case that was authorized under former President Joe Biden.
Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 as part of a program that provided Afghans with special immigration protections following the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
He once collaborated with the CIA in Afghanistan, according to official confirmation.
