SECURITY SWEEP: The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has ordered a full review of all green cards issued to immigrants from countries of "concern” and halted all Afghan-related immigration processing following the arrest of an Afghan national suspected of… pic.twitter.com/F419CTpCNk
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The Trump administration is to launch a sweeping immigration security review that could impact tens of thousands of legal residents, ordering every green card issued to immigrants from 19 ‘countries of concern’ to be reexamined.
Federal officials describe it as a ‘full scale, rigorous’ process and a dramatic escalation triggered by the attempted assassination-style shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, one of whom died on Thursday evening.
The order was announced publicly by Joseph B. Edlow, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, who said the move had come directly from President Donald Trump.
‘At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,’ Edlow wrote.
In a follow-up message, he underscored the administration’s position.
‘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.’
Federal officials pointed to a June presidential proclamation that identifies the 19 nations now subject to the review.
The ‘countries of concern’ are: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The extraordinary measures come after 29-year-old Afghan Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly shot two National Guardsmen who were on duty near the White House, leaving 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom dead and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe fighting for his life.
Lakanwal arrived in America in 2021 as part of the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan after serving as an ally of Special Forces troops in his CIA-backed ‘Zero Unit.’
During the withdrawal incredible photos and video showed hundreds of Afghans running to board cargo jets. On one plane 640 migrants were overloaded into an aircraft designed to carry 150.
