Trump Freezes Immigration from Third World Countries, Reviews Green Cards After White House Shooting
Following an Afghan citizen being responsible for a violent incident just outside the White House, President Donald Trump announced a complete prohibition of “Third World Country” immigration to America, along with others in similar situations, and return to examination of permanent residency (green card) and naturalization.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) November 28: Following a shooting incident near the White House involving an Afghan gunman, US President Donald Trump declared that he is now working towards implementing a comprehensive hard-line approach to immigration reform and reviewing how foreign nationals obtain residency and citizenship.
The federal government has announced that all permanent resident statuses will be reviewed for persons from 19 nations (including Afghanistan) who may have been granted Permanent Resident Status (PRS) under the prior administration's policies.
Comprehensive review of permanent residency and citizenship applications begins
Trump pledged that he would continue working with Congress on a comprehensive package that would include ending future immigration and reviewing all the millions of PRS issued by Biden's administration. In addition to halting future migrations from countries that are classified as 'third world' by the United States, Trump plans to remove immigrants who he feels do not meet the requirements of being productive citizens or create security threats, and eliminate all federal benefits for non-U.S. Citizens and thus minimize the associated costs to U.S. taxpayers.
Trump said, “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country," on his Truth social account.
Suspension of Afghan immigration processing follows deadly shooting incident
Also, as part of this particular policy change, the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued its latest guidance on the examination of any/all currently valid green cards for those originating from countries classified as “high-risk” due to terrorist activities. This will replace the previous process and come as a result of the incident that took place on Wednesday when Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, age 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, age 24, was killed by an Afghan national while in Washington, D.C.
According to an AP news release, Joseph Edlow, Director of USCIS indicated that effective immediately and for all requests for green cards made after November 27, 2025, the USCIS will now be re-evaluating every current green card held by someone from a country listed on the new list of high-risk countries. Additionally, Edlow indicated that “country-specific negative indicators” would be taken into consideration during the security clearance process for citizenship applications for individuals from high-risk countries.
19 High-Risk Countries Included in Trump’s Immigration Ban
The following 19 countries have now been identified on the updated higher level of review list: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. Earlier this year, these same countries were placed on the original 90-day travel prohibition order signed into law by President Trump.
