The US government will reevaluate green cards previously issued to individuals from “19 countries of concern,” eleven of which are African countries. This was announced several hours before President Donald Trump said he would “permanently pause immigration for all Third World countries.”
A green card is an official document that allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States. It is formally called a Permanent Resident Card.
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The green card announcement comes a day after an Afghan national was named as a suspect in the shooting of two members of the National Guard in Washington.
These countries to be reviewed are predominantly in Africa and Asia.
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Nigeria, however, is not among the affected countries.
The Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Joe Edlow, disclosed this on Thursday on X.
“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,” he said.
The African countries affected are Togo, Sierra Leone, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Burundi, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of the Congo.
Meanwhile, six of the affected countries are in Asia, two in North America, and one in South America.
They are: Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Laos, Turkmenistan, Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela
The USCIS said nationals of these countries will be screened, and officers will also consider specific negative factors, including whether the government is able to issue secure identity documents.
On Wednesday, a US National Guard member, Sarah Beckstrom, was shot dead, while another was left in a critical condition after a shooting.
The CNN reported that the suspect, identified as an Afghan national, had approached three National Guard members, who were initially unaware of him, and opened fire.
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He shot one guard and then another, before standing over the first victim and seemingly attempting another shot, but the third guard returned fire.
This incident has now prompted an intensified clampdown on immigration.
Aside from reevaluating visas, Mr Trump said he would suspend immigration from “all Third World countries.”
He attributed this to an effort to cut down the strain that current migrant arrivals are placing on the US.
