The Trump administration has ordered a full-scale review of every Green Card issued to nationals from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following Wednesday’s deadly shooting of National Guard troops in Washington DC.
US officials say the detained suspect is a 29-year-old Afghan national who had previously worked with American forces in Afghanistan and was granted asylum in the United States in April 2025.
Joseph Edlow, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced the sweeping measure on Thursday.
“I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” Edlow wrote on X.
The 19 countries fall under a June 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump that labelled them “Countries of Identified Concern”.
Twelve of the nations — Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — are subject to a near-total travel ban.
Seven others — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — face partial restrictions but some work visas remain permitted.
The review covers only permanent residents (Green Card holders), not the suspect himself, who entered the country on asylum status.
The move marks the latest hardening of US immigration policy under the Trump administration in response to the attack on serving military personnel on American soil.
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