“USCIS has paused all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every foreign national is screened and tested to the maximum extent possible,” Edlow said in a statement to the media on Friday. “The safety of the American people always comes first,” he added.
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Why has USCIS stopped processing asylum applications?
What does the suspension of visa issuance for Afghan citizens mean?
What were the circumstances surrounding the USCIS decisions?
What changes in migration policy has Donald Trump announced?
According to CBS, this decision means that although the processing of submitted asylum applications will continue, the issuance of final decisions in these cases has been suspended. On the same day, the US Department of State announced that the issuance of visas to Afghan citizens had also been suspended. “The United States has no higher priority than protecting our country and our citizens,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Platform X.
These decisions are related to Wednesday's attack on two National Guard soldiers in Washington, carried out by 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwala, armed with a pistol, a former Afghan soldier who cooperated with the American military and the CIA during the war in Afghanistan. 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom was killed by the attacker's bullets. Seriously injured, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe is in hospital.
According to the Washington Post, Lakanwal was checked by the National Counterterrorism Center, and in 2024 he received a positive decision on his asylum application. He came to the United States after the evacuation of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 as part of the settlement program of former US allies.
Donald Trump announced radical changes in migration policy
On Thursday night, US President Donald Trump announced a number of radical changes in US immigration policy, including a complete halt to migration from “Third World countries”, withdrawing benefits from foreigners and citizenship from naturalized US citizens who “undermine internal peace”.
On the day of the attack in Washington, the US immigration office USCIS announced the suspension of processing applications submitted by Afghan citizens, and on Thursday a review of the decision to grant a Green Card to citizens of 19 countries from Africa, South America and Asia was announced.
Back in June, President Trump ordered by executive order to suspend or limit the issuance of visas to citizens of: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The issuance of visas to residents of: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela has also been partially reduced.
