US pauses visas for Afghan passport holders, citing national security concerns
Iran Press TV
Saturday, 29 November 2025 7:54 AM
The US Department of State has announced a pause on visa issuance for Afghan passport holders, while the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has halted all asylum decisions amid so-called national security concerns.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X on Friday that "President Trump's State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports. The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people."
In a separate announcement, USCIS director Joseph Edlow said the agency had also suspended all asylum decisions to ensure the "safety of the American people."
A day earlier, Edlow had ordered "a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern" at Trump's direction.
These measures come after Afghan national Rahmanaullah Lakanwal was named the main suspect in Wednesday's shooting in Washington, DC, which killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition.
Authorities said Lakanwal ambushed two West Virginia National Guard members as they patrolled near the White House.
On Thursday evening, the Trump administration confirmed that one of the guards had died from her injuries, while the other remained in critical condition.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirmed on Saturday that Lakanwal had worked for the agency in Afghanistan before immigrating to the US shortly after the withdrawal of Western forces in 2021.
These actions are part of a series of increasingly restrictive immigration policies pushed by Donald Trump, who called the shooting a "terrorist attack" and has repeatedly criticized former President Joe Biden's immigration policies, particularly visas granted to Afghan nationals who assisted US forces during the war in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that authorities should re-examine all green card applications from 19 "countries of concern" and suggested plans to suspend immigration from what he called "all Third World countries."
He did not define the term, which is often used to refer to developing countries in the Global South.
"[I will] denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization," Trump wrote.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has already implemented aggressive immigration restrictions, including an announcement in October that his administration would accept only 7,500 refugees in 2026, the lowest level since 1980.
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