USCIS halted all asylum decisions nationwide after National Guard shooting
On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow ordered asylum officers to immediately stop approving, denying, or closing any asylum application nationwide, regardless of the applicant's nationality, following the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national. The indefinite halt suspended the statutory asylum adjudication process under INA §208 for all pending applicants, freezing them in limbo with no path to a decision or hearing, and served as the originating operational directive later formalized by the December 2, 2025 USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192.
Actors
On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency had "halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." Internal guidance instructed asylum officers to refrain from approving, denying, or closing any asylum application regardless of the applicant's country of nationality; officers could continue interviews up to the point of decision but could not adjudicate. The announcement followed the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House, in which the suspect was an Afghan national. CBS News reported the officer guidance on November 29.
The November 28 halt was a blanket operational directive affecting applicants of every nationality — not limited to Afghan nationals or the 19 travel-ban countries. It is distinct from a concurrent Afghan-specific USCIS pause (issued November 26) and the November 29 State Department cable halting Afghan visa processing at all consular posts worldwide. This operational directive served as the originating act later formalized by USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192, issued December 2, 2025, which extended and restructured the freeze on nationality-based lines. A federal court later vacated the December 2 formalization as arbitrary, capricious, and beyond USCIS's lawful authority in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS (D.R.I., June 5, 2026).
Why we recorded this
U.S. law has provided asylum as a legal protection for decades — asylum officers are required by statute (INA §208) to adjudicate applications filed by anyone who reaches U.S. soil. When USCIS Director Edlow ordered officers to stop adjudicating all cases regardless of nationality — treating every applicant as suspect because of a shooting involving one Afghan national — he used administrative fiat to suspend a congressionally mandated legal process without any change in law, without individualized review, and with no timeline for resumption, converting a security response into a blanket freeze that left asylum seekers of every background in indefinite limbo with no path to a decision.
Sources
- Officials instructed to pause all asylum decisions in wake of National Guard shooting — CBS News primary accessed June 18, 2026
- Trump administration pausing all asylum decisions after National Guard shooting — OPB / NPR secondary accessed June 18, 2026
- USCIS halts asylum decisions after Afghan national accused of shooting National Guard members — Fox News secondary accessed June 18, 2026
- USCIS imposes indefinite pause on all asylum adjudications — Immigration Policy Tracking Project secondary accessed June 18, 2026
See also
- USCIS halted all asylum decisions for applicants of every nationality after D.C. National Guard shooting
- USCIS froze asylum applications and immigration benefits for 19 travel-ban countries, ordered green-card review
- USCIS indefinitely halted all Afghan immigration requests—asylum, green cards, SIVs—hours after D.C. shooting
- ICE deported Colombian woman to DR Congo after Congolese officials refused her on medical grounds
- State Department cable halted all Afghan visa processing worldwide, including SIVs for wartime allies