U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Thursday tightened vetting rules and imposed new restrictions on immigrants from 19 high-risk countries, following the shooting of two National Guard members by a suspected Afghan national near the White House.
The agency said the updated policy allows officers to factor in security risks tied to an applicant’s home country — including whether that country can produce reliable identity documents — when reviewing refugee, visa, or other immigration requests from the designated nations. Officials said the change is intended to strengthen national-security screening and reflects the Trump administration’s broader overhaul of vetting procedures.
"My primary responsibility is to ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible," USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a news release. "This includes an assessment of where they are coming from and why. Yesterday’s horrific events make it abundantly clear the Biden administration spent the last four years dismantling basic vetting and screening standards, prioritizing the rapid resettlement of aliens from high-risk countries over the safety of American citizens. The Trump administration takes the opposite approach.”
The move came a day after Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021, allegedly carried out an ambush-style attack that left two newly sworn-in West Virginia National Guard soldiers in critical condition. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a possible act of terrorism.
USCIS said the new guidance authorizes immigration officers to treat an applicant’s country of origin as a "negative discretionary factor" when assessing eligibility for a range of immigration benefits. Those factors might include the country’s identification systems, record-keeping capability, and the presence of extremist groups.
The new policy is also tied to a proclamation by President Donald Trump in June that restricts the entry of foreign nationals deemed potential national-security risks.
Trump's proclamation listed 12 countries where full suspension of entry applies: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It listed seven with partial suspensions of entry: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
USCIS earlier Thursday also halted all immigration processing for Afghan nationals. That suspension affects asylum claims, refugee referrals, humanitarian-parole requests, and green-card applications by Afghans who entered under Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era resettlement program launched after the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Lakanwal was said to have arrived in the U.S. through that program.
Agency officials said the Afghan-processing halt would remain in place indefinitely while investigators review whether the suspected shooter was radicalized after entering the U.S.
The new measures follow a broader tightening of immigration scrutiny that began earlier this year. USCIS now requires applicants for many immigration benefits to disclose five years of social-media identifiers as part of expanded background checks. Officers are directed to flag posts or online activity suggesting extremist sympathies as potential grounds for denial.
The new vetting guidance takes effect immediately and applies to all pending or newly filed requests as of Nov. 27, 2025.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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