President Trump has ordered "a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card" holder from "every country of concern," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Joseph Edlow said Thursday.
The big picture: Trump escalated his administration's hardline immigration crackdown after officials identified the suspect in Wednesday's deadly shooting attack targeting National Guard in D.C. as an Afghan national.
- Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot in the attack, died from her injuries on Thursday and the other, Andrew Wolfe, is fighting for his life, Trump said.
Zoom in: When asked to elaborate on the countries of concern that Edlow was referring to, USCIS referred Axios to 19 countries listed in Trump's June 4 proclamation, titled "Restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public security threats."
- The proclamation fully restricts and limits the entry of nationals from: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
- Partial restrictions and limited entry were imposed on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
What they're saying: "The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration's reckless resettlement policies. American safety is non negotiable," Edlow said in his announcement on X.
State of play: In addition to the action targeting 19 countries, the USCIS suspended all immigration applications from Afghan nationals with immediate effect on Wednesday night.
- Trump said on Thursday night he "will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover."
- It was not immediately clear which countries would be affected.
More from Axios:
- Republicans push to "deport them all" after D.C. shooting
- Suspect in National Guard shooting near White House had helped CIA
- National Guard members shot in D.C. identified but motive still unknown
- Trump admin cracks down on Afghan immigrants after National Guard shooting
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries and Trump's announcement on immigrants from "Third World Countries."
