In a dramatic escalation of its immigration enforcement agenda, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday, 2 December, 2025 a complete halt to all immigration applications and naturalisation processes for nationals of 19 countries, citing urgent national security threats.
The policy, detailed in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memorandum, freezes green card approvals, citizenship oaths and adjustment-of-status interviews for applicants from these nations, affecting an estimated 1.4 million pending cases.
The affected countries — primarily in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean — are: Afghanistan, Somalia, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Many were already under partial travel restrictions from a June presidential proclamation that banned entry from 12 of them outright and limited others.
The decision follows a deadly shooting last week in Washington, D.C., where an Afghan asylum seeker allegedly killed one National Guard member and critically injured another during a routine patrol.
President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post late Monday, decried “inadequate vetting from the Biden era” and vowed a “permanent pause” on migration from “third-world countries” to prevent “future tragedies.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed the sentiment at a White House briefing, stating, “No stone unturned, no application rushed —America’s safety comes first.”
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow described the pause as a “temporary measure for enhanced screening,” including mandatory re-interviews and biometric re-verification, potentially delaying processes by months or years.
Critics, however, see it as an indefinite de facto ban, reminiscent of Trump’s 2017 “Muslim ban,” which faced multiple court challenges before partial upholding by the Supreme Court.
Immigration advocates swiftly condemned the move. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported a flood of complaints from clients whose ceremonies were abruptly cancelled, with one attorney calling it “cruel and chaotic.”
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