Nov. 27 (UPI) — Foreign nationals from 19 nations of concern will undergo reviews of their visas following Wednesday’s attack on two National Guard members in Washington.
President Donald Trump has ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials to review the visas held by individuals from those nations.
“At the direction of [the president], I have directed a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said on Thursday in a social media post.
“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount,” Edlow continued in another post.
“The American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies,” he said. “American safety is non-negotiable.”
Edlow on Wednesday announced USCIS has stopped all processing of immigration requests from Afghan nationals after West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot about two blocks from the White House while patrolling the capital.
The suspect, Rahmanulla Lakanwal, 29, is an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 through the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome that was intended to protect Afghans who assisted the U.S. military.
Trump and others in his administration have accused the Biden administration of improperly vetting visa applicants.
When asked which nations’ citizens will undergo additional scrutiny, USCIS officials directed NBC News to the president’s related executive order made in June.
The Trump administration identified a dozen nations as national security and public safety risks and potential sources of terrorism and suspended or limited visa approvals for their respective citizens.
They include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea. They also include Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The Trump administration also identified seven nations for partial suspension of visa approvals.
Those are Barundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Tofo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.