The United States government has announced plans to conduct a sweeping re-examination of all green cards issued to nationals of 19 countries as part of President Donald Trump’s intensified immigration crackdown. Nigeria is notably not included on the list.
Gatekeepers News reports that the review follows the killing of two National Guard members by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the US in 2021 under a special immigration programme for Afghans who assisted American forces.
Joe Edlow, Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said in a post on X that the directive came directly from the President.
“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,” Edlow wrote.
“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies. American safety is non negotiable.”
Countries affected include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
USCIS added that future vetting of immigrants from these nations will consider “negative, country-specific factors,” such as the ability of each country to issue secure identity documents.
In a related move, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an immediate suspension of all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals pending a fresh review of security and vetting systems. The DHS also confirmed that it is reassessing all asylum approvals granted under former President Joe Biden.
US authorities say Lakanwal had previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.
