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US Orders Review of Green Cards From 19 Nations After Washington Attack
The Trump administration on Thursday ordered a sweeping review of the immigration status of all U.S. permanent residents from Afghanistan and 18 other countries designated as “of Identified Concern,” a day after a National Guard unit in Washington came under attack.
The announcement followed the detention of a 29-year-old Afghan national accused of opening fire on National Guard troops in what officials described as an “ambush-style” assault. The FBI has launched an international terrorism investigation.
According to AfghanEvac, an organisation involved in relocating Afghans after the Taliban takeover in 2021, the suspect had been granted asylum — not a Green Card — in April this year. He reportedly worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan war.
Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said in a statement on X that he had “directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”
A USCIS spokesperson pointed to President Donald Trump’s June executive order that listed 19 countries as security concerns, 12 of which — including Afghanistan — were subject to a full travel ban. Those nations were Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Seven other countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — faced partial restrictions, allowing only limited temporary work visas.
The shooting, which cast a shadow over the Thanksgiving holiday, prompted a strong reaction from President Trump, who condemned the incident as an “act of evil” and framed it as evidence of the national security risks posed by immigration. The administration also moved to suspend the processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.
“We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country,” Trump said in a video statement. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”
The attack has intensified debate on three politically sensitive fronts: the use of U.S. military personnel on domestic streets, the administration’s aggressive immigration policies, and the unresolved fallout of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan.
