US Halts Immigration Applications from 19 Countries

Does stopping immigration from high-risk nations protect Americans, or does it punish vetted migrants for one person's actions?

Published 22 hours ago

US Halts Immigration Applications from 19 Countries

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Above: A new U.S. citizen waits to take the Oath of Allegiance in Chicago, Illinois, on June 25, 2025. Image credit: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Republican narrative

Mass migration from countries unable to provide reliable security data poses an existential threat to American communities through terror attacks, crime waves and networks controlled by cartels and foreign adversaries. The D.C. terrorist attack proves vetting systems failed catastrophically when Afghanistan collapsed, making a nationwide halt on asylum decisions and immigration from high-risk nations the minimum threshold of national security.

Kristi Noem on X Unherd

Democratic narrative

Halting immigration applications from 19 of the world's poorest and most unstable nations punishes millions waiting years for green cards and citizenship based on one individual's actions. Canceling naturalization ceremonies for vetted physicians and long-term residents creates massive backlogs while offering no clear process forward. This crackdown chokes off remaining legal pathways and treats citizenship as something to withhold rather than a system to improve.

The New York Times