WASHINGTON, Dec 3, (AP): The Trump administration is pausing all immigration applications such as requests for green cards for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops. The changes were outlined in a policy memo posted Tuesday on the website of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with processing and approving all requests for immigration benefits.

The pause puts on hold a wide range of immigration-related decisions such as green card applications or naturalizations for immigrants from those 19 countries that the Trump administration has described as high-risk. It's up to the agency's director, Joseph Edlow, on when to lift the pause, the memo said. The administration in June banned travel to the US by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns.

The ban applied to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen while the restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. At the time, no action was taken against immigrants from those countries who were already in the US before the travel ban went into effect.

But now the news from USCIS means those people already in the US - regardless of when they arrived - will come under extra scrutiny. The agency said it would conduct a comprehensive review of all "approved benefit requests” for immigrants who entered the country during the Biden administration. The agency cited the shooting of two National Guard troops by a suspect who is an Afghan national as a reason for the pause and heightened scrutiny for people from those countries.

One National Guard soldier was killed and another wounded in the Thanksgiving week shooting near the White House. "In light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people, USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 is necessary,” the agency said.