DHS pauses immigration functions for an extra 20 nations : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4251x2865+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F61%2F1c%2Fffad40ef49e494d5c4822c9aa759%2Fgettyimages-908830346.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4251x2865+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F61%2F1c%2Fffad40ef49e494d5c4822c9aa759%2Fgettyimages-908830346.jpg" class="img" alt="The Department of Homeland Security is pausing immigration applications for people from 20 additional countries as the Trump administration continues sharpen scrutiny of those who have followed legal steps to seek permanent status in the U.S. " fetchpriority="high"/> Immigrants put together to develop into Americans at a naturalization service on Jan. 22, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. Though a lot of the federal authorities was shut down Monday morning, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS), workplaces remained open nationwide. John Moore/Getty Photos North America conceal caption

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John Moore/Getty Photos North America The Division of Homeland Safety is pausing the immigration functions from an extra 20 nations after an enlargement of journey restrictions took impact Jan. 1.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies, or USCIS, in a memo launched Thursday, stated it will pause the overview of all pending functions for visas, inexperienced playing cards, citizenship or asylum from immigrants from the extra nations. The memo additionally outlines plans to re-review functions of immigrants from these nations way back to 2021.

The listing, which consists largely of nations in Africa, contains Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Final month, the Trump administration expanded the listing of nations with journey restrictions to the U.S. from 19 to 39, plus the Palestinian Authority. The transfer comes because the administration is bringing sharper scrutiny of those that have adopted authorized steps to hunt everlasting standing within the U.S.

"USCIS stays devoted to making sure aliens from high-risk nations of concern who've entered the US don't pose dangers to nationwide safety or public security," the memo states as rational for the pause and critiques. "To faithfully uphold United States immigration regulation, the move of aliens from nations with excessive overstay charges, vital fraud, or each should cease."

There are some exceptions outlined within the memo, together with athletes and members of their groups competing within the World Cup and 2026 Olympics, each hosted by the U.S. this 12 months.

The administration first recommended it will broaden the restrictions after the arrest of an Afghan nationwide suspect within the capturing of two Nationwide Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

In the direction of the tip of 2025, DHS started taking steps to additional pause and overview these authorized avenues of migration. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies, the company that oversees processing of functions together with for visas, naturalizations and asylum, introduced it will re-review the standing of everybody who had been admitted into the U.S. as a refugee below the Biden administration, primarily reopening these instances.

The company additionally beforehand introduced an indefinite pause in all processing of asylum functions whereas it really works by way of its backlog.