New York: After suspending immigration applications from Afghanistan, US President Donald Trump ordered heightened scrutiny of Green Card holders from Afghanistan and 18 other nations.
US Customs and Immigration Service Director Joseph Edlow said on Thursday that under Trump’s orders, he has “directed a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”.
India is not on the list of countries of concern, nor are others from South Asia, except for Afghanistan.
The actions followed Wednesday’s shooting rampage by Rahmanullah Lakanwal near the White House.
One of the National Guard soldiers he shot, Sarah Beckstrom, died on Thursday, while the other is in a critical condition in a hospital.
Lakanwal, who was injured before his capture, is also in hospital.
Soon after the shooting, Trump said, “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan”.
Under the broadened scrutiny announced by Eldow, several hundred thousand green card holders from the 19 countries will be put under “rigorous re-examination”.
Trump had put those countries under a watch list in June and restricted the issuing of visas to their citizens, expressing concern over the ability of the US to vet the applicants from there.
The other countries on the list are Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Lakanwal, who had worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan, came to the US under programmes to protect Afghans who had cooperated with the US when the Taliban took over.
Eldow accused former President Joe Biden’s administration of lax screening of those entering the US.
“Yesterday’s horrific events make it abundantly clear the Biden administration spent the last four years dismantling basic vetting and screening standards, prioritising the rapid resettlement of aliens from high-risk countries over the safety of American citizens.”, he said.
Under the new policy guidance, immigration officers will “consider country-specific factors as significant negative factors when reviewing immigration requests”, he said.
