The Department of Homeland Security is further clamping down on processing immigration applications after two National Guard members were shot by an Afghan national.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in a memo on Tuesday said it would pause reviewing all pending applications for green cards, citizenship, or asylum from immigrants from 19 countries listed in a previous travel ban.
President Trump in June announced the travel ban against 12 countries, and partial restrictions against seven others, after a firebombing attack in Colorado.
The citizenship and immigration agency also plans to re-review and re-interview immigrants from these countries, potentially going as far back as 2021, amid sharper scrutiny of those who have followed the legal steps to seek permanent status in the U.S.
"The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right," a DHS spokesperson told NPR in a statement. "We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern."
The travel ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and added restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Migrants from all 19 countries are impacted by the pauses of pending applications and review of previously approved ones.
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