President Donald Trump administration says immigrants from 19 Countries, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela in addition to
Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo and Libya, with green card living in the United States of America may likely be reviewed for revocation.
Head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow explained that the President had directed him to conduct “a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every Country of concern”.
According to the BBC, the announcement comes in the wake of an Afghan national allegedly shooting two National Guard troops in Washington DC on Wednesday, gravely injuring them both.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US in 2021 under a programme that offered special immigration protections to Afghans in the wake of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Edlow’s social media post on Thursday about the sweeping green card review did not explictly mention that attack.
“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,” Edlow who however did not give further details about what the re-examination would look like.
Recall that the June proclamation his agency highlighted to the BBC set out an aim to restrict foreign nationals from entering the US to protect from “foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats”.
The government said security concerns and the overstay rate of business, student and tourists visas were among the reasons for a country to make the list.
“The Taliban, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, controls Afghanistan,” the proclamation said. “Afghanistan lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”
While describing the shooting as underlined major national security threat, Trump instructed the same agency behind the green card review, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which announced a review of all refugees admitted under former President Joe Biden.
