USCIS halted all asylum decisions for applicants of every nationality after D.C. National Guard shooting

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. CBS News reported the officer guidance on November 29, 2025.

The directive came two days after a Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national, and extended beyond the concurrent Afghan-specific immigration pause (issue #498) to cover applicants of every nationality. The operational freeze immediately stopped affirmative asylum adjudication nationwide, leaving applicants—who had statutory entitlement to a decision under INA §208—in indefinite limbo without a path to resolution.

The November 28 operational directive was the originating act of what courts later called the "Global Asylum Hold." It was subsequently formalized and expanded on December 2, 2025, through USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192, which added a freeze on immigration benefits for nationals of 19 travel-ban countries and ordered a review of previously issued green cards (issue #495). On June 5, 2026, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island vacated those policies in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS, finding the freeze contrary to law and the stated justification pretextual. The administration's defiance of that ruling is recorded separately (issue #347).