The Standing Record

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

USCIS froze asylum applications and immigration benefits for 19 travel-ban countries, ordered green-card review

On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications and freezing adjudication of immigration benefits—including green cards, work permits, and naturalization—for nationals of 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban, while also ordering a review of every green card already issued to people from those countries. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and a November 26 shooting near the White House as justification and stated the freeze would remain until lifted by a future directive. On June 5, 2026, a federal court vacated the policies as contrary to law and pretextual.

Part of: Trump Administration Asylum and Immigration Benefit Restrictions

Jurisdiction
federal
Location
Nationwide

Abuses documented

Actors

On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications—regardless of nationality—and freezing adjudication of all immigration benefits (green cards, work permits, naturalization) filed by nationals of the 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban. Edlow simultaneously announced a "comprehensive review" of every green card already issued to individuals from those countries and an indefinite halt to all immigration processing for Afghan nationals. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House as its stated justification, declaring the freeze would remain in place until lifted by a future USCIS directive.

The December 2 memo is the originating administrative act behind the policy that a federal court later declared unlawful. On June 5, 2026, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island vacated these policies in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS, finding that USCIS lacked statutory authority and had used "pretextual" national-security concerns to "mask anti-immigrant sentiments." That ruling is recorded separately (issue #193); the administration's subsequent defiance of the court order is recorded as issue #347. This entry documents the originating December 2 freeze on its own date.

Why we recorded this

The Immigration and Nationality Act assigns USCIS a mandatory duty to adjudicate asylum applications and immigration benefits; an open-ended administrative memo cannot legally suspend those statutory obligations for an entire class of applicants. By conditioning the freeze on national origin—covering all 19 travel-ban countries regardless of individual circumstances—the agency also violated the INA's bar on nationality discrimination in visa issuance. A federal court later vacated the policy as arbitrary, capricious, and beyond USCIS's lawful authority, confirming that the December 2 memo exceeded the limits Congress placed on executive discretion over immigration. We record the originating administrative act on its own date to preserve a complete record of how the policy was initiated, separate from subsequent court rulings and defiance entries.

Sources

  1. USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 — Hold and Review of all Pending Asylum Applications and all USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from High-Risk Countries (Dec. 2, 2025) — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services primary accessed June 17, 2026
  2. USCIS imposes indefinite pause on all asylum adjudications — Immigration Policy Tracking Project primary accessed June 17, 2026
  3. Trump administration pauses immigration applications from nationals of 19 countries — NBC News secondary accessed June 17, 2026
  4. Trump administration halts immigration applications for migrants from 19 travel-ban nations including Afghanistan and Somalia — PBS NewsHour secondary accessed June 17, 2026

See also