The Trump administration has halted all immigration applications filed by people from 19 countries, its latest move to restrict legal immigration pathways following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week, according to internal government guidance and a source familiar with the move.
The internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance obtained by CBS News shows the agency directed employees on Monday to “stop final adjudication on all cases” involving individuals from 19 nations that are facing restrictions under a proclamation President Trump issued in June. Colloquially, that proclamation is known as the travel ban.
That pause includes the completion of citizenship ceremonies for legal U.S. permanent residents from the list of 19 countries who were on the cusp of becoming naturalized American citizens, the USCIS document said. It suggested the suspension is an interim step while the administration develops further guidance on the vetting of the affected immigrants.
“This hold includes all form types and making any final decisions (approvals, denials) as well as completing any oath ceremonies,” the guidance to USCIS offices said.
Mr. Trump’s June proclamation imposed a near-total restriction on the entry of people from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also partially suspended the entry of travelers and immigrants from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The new guidance indicates that the immigration crackdown directed by Mr. Trump following last week’s shooting of the National Guard members is much broader in scope than previously reported. The man accused of shooting the two Guard members, one of whom has died, is an Afghan evacuee who entered the U.S. in September 2021, under the Biden administration, and who was granted asylum in April 2025, after Mr. Trump returned to the White House.
The Trump administration has publicly announced a series of immigration restrictions since the attack, including a pause on all asylum decisions by USCIS, a categorical suspension of visa and immigration processing for Afghans and a review of green card cases involving immigrants from the 19 nations on the travel ban.
But the administration had not publicly announced it had also frozen all USCIS cases — not just green card applications — involving nationals of the 19 countries on the list, including citizenship requests. To qualify for U.S. citizenship, immigrants typically must have been legal permanent residents for three or five years, depending on their cases.
In a statement to CBS News on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, did not dispute the planned suspension of applications. The agency said “the Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best.”
“We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake,” DHS added. “The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
Some time on Tuesday, USCIS posted a memo online, dated Dec. 2, memorializing the immigration restrictions the administration has announced since last week’s attack.
The memo formalized the suspension of asylum requests overseen by USCIS for all nationalities pending a “comprehensive review;” the pause on all immigration applications filed by immigrants from the 19 countries listed on the travel ban, regardless of when they entered the U.S.; and the “re-review” of the cases of nationals of those countries who arrived after former President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 and whose requests were approved.
The policy said everyone who falls into those categories will now be subject to a “thorough re-review process, including a potential interview and, if necessary, a re-interview, to fully assess all national security and public safety threats along with any other related grounds of inadmissibility or ineligibility,” including because of suspected terrorism ties or criminality.
The policy says the application pause will only be lifted when the USCIS director issues another memo. “Any requests to lift the hold due to litigation or other extraordinary circumstances must receive approval from the USCIS Director or Deputy Director,” the memo said.
Earlier on Tuesday, CBS News reported that Trump administration officials are considering expanding the travel ban to encompass more countries, in response to last week’s shooting. The total list of nations whose nationals could face travel and immigration restrictions on national security grounds could grow to around 30, U.S. officials said.
Immigration lawyers this week reported that some of their clients’ cases — including citizenship ceremonies — had been halted or canceled.
Michael Valverde, a former top USCIS official, said the agency has previously enacted “tactical” pauses on certain groups of cases if additional vetting or procedures were needed. But he called the Trump administration’s move “unprecedented.”
“The difference is this is for a large group of individuals and in every category of immigration benefit,” he said.