The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended all immigration requests submitted by citizens of 19 countries, including Yemen, Iran, and Afghanistan, following last week’s shooting that injured two National Guard members near the White House — a move that had not been publicly announced before.

Internal documents obtained by CBS News show that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) instructed its officers to “pause all final adjudications” for applicants from countries listed in the June travel-ban order.

The freeze affects every type of case: permanent residence (Green Card), naturalization ceremonies, asylum requests, and all categories of immigrant visas. It also applies to individuals who entered the U.S. many years ago, not only recent arrivals.

The list includes: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen—along with partial restrictions on Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Officials warn the list may expand to nearly 30 countries.

The policy shift follows revelations that the suspect in the National Guard shooting was an Afghan refugee who entered the U.S. in 2021 during the Biden administration and received asylum in April 2025, after Trump returned to office.

In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not deny the freeze, explaining that the administration aims to ensure “new citizens are among the finest individuals,” adding that it “cannot take risks when the nation’s future is at stake.”

A USCIS memo dated December 2 outlined three key directives:

1. A temporary halt on all asylum processing for every nationality,

2. A complete freeze on immigration benefits for the 19 listed countries,

3. A re-review of all approvals granted to nationals of those countries after January 2021.

Immigration attorneys report widespread cancellations of their clients’ appointments — including naturalization ceremonies — without prior notice.

Former USCIS official Michael Valverde described the move as “unprecedented,” noting that while tactical pauses have occurred before, “this action targets an enormous population across all immigration benefit categories.”