President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after speaking to troops via video from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thanksgiving, in Palm Beach, Fla. AP
The administration’s only concrete step so far has been to halt all affirmative asylum decisions nationwide after an Afghan asylum grantee was charged with killing a National Guard member in the US capital.
Affirmative asylum refers to applications filed by people already inside the United States who say they would face persecution if returned home.
There have been no indications that the freeze extends to tourist, student, or work visas, family- or employment-based green cards, citizenship applications, or the Diversity Visa Lottery. These programmes operate on separate tracks and were not mentioned in the order, although a separate directive has halted visa processing for Afghan passport holders.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) instructed officers to stop issuing approvals or denials until further notice, although interviews will continue.
“USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said.
“The safety of the American people always comes first.”
The asylum pause followed the arrest of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members.
US officials say he served in a CIA-backed paramilitary force in Afghanistan and later guarded Kabul airport during the 2021 evacuation before being brought to the United States under Operation Allies Welcome.
The initiative, launched under the Biden administration, resettled tens of thousands of Afghans who feared Taliban reprisals after the group took power.
Lakanwal entered on humanitarian parole, applied for asylum in 2024, and was granted it in 2025, with a green-card application pending.
Following the shooting, the State Department instructed US embassies to stop issuing visas to Afghan passport holders.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that “President Trump’s State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports,” adding that “the United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people.”
A cable reported by US media told diplomats to continue interviews but not to grant visas and to destroy any printed visas that had not yet been handed to applicants.
This effectively suspended the Special Immigrant Visa programme for Afghans who worked with US forces.
Trump then broadened his message on Truth Social, writing: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.”
Analysts say his reference to “Third World Countries” revives Cold War-era language that carries racial and civilizational overtones rather than any technical meaning.
The term lacks a precise legal definition and closely mirrors Trump’s June 2025 list of 19 “countries of concern,” whose nationals now face green card re-examination rather than a full migration ban.
US officials have begun reviewing green cards issued to nationals from 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.
Edlow said that, at President Trump’s direction, he had ordered “a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”
The review does not halt processing, but could lead to revocations if new security issues emerge. Egypt is not included on the list.
For Egyptians, the latest measures introduce no new restrictions.
Egypt is not part of the asylum freeze, the Afghan visa halt, or the 19-country green-card review, and currently faces no special US immigration measures.
Although the asylum pause and Afghan visa suspension reflect tougher vetting, the United States has not enacted any blanket ban on migration from so-called Third World countries, and no formal policy has been issued to implement such a measure.
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