Proposed immigration shift in US to put green card prospects at risk for those from 'travel-ban' countries

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The Biden-era immigration framework could soon undergo a sweeping shift, with the US administration preparing a draft policy that would make it harder for people from countries listed under President Donald Trump’s travel ban to obtain green cards and other immigration benefits.

The New York Times reported the development after reviewing internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents outlining the proposed changes.

The draft guidance, which is reportedly still awaiting final approval, would instruct US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers to treat “country-specific factors” tied to the travel ban as “significant negative factors” in evaluating certain applications.

Describing the move as unprecedented, Doug Rand, a senior USCIS official during the Biden administration, said it represented “a radical change". “Now they're trying to reach inside the United States and overturn the settled expectations of people who have already been here. This is an escalation of the Trump administration's attack on legal immigration,” he told the NYT.

If implemented, the policy would mark one of the most consequential shifts in US immigration adjudication in years.

Travel-ban “country-specific factors” would automatically count against applicants. The rule would apply to green cards, asylum claims, parole requests and several other discretionary pathways.

However, it would not affect citizenship applications. Officers, who currently assess community ties, criminal history and humanitarian circumstances, would now be required to weigh an applicant’s nationality as a risk factor.

Michael Valverde, a former USCIS official who served over two decades in the agency, told the NYT, “It will be telling if people actually are able to overcome the negative or if this is a de facto ban for people from the listed locations."

Trump’s June travel ban currently bars citizens of 12 nations, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, from entering the United States. These include:

• Afghanistan
• Myanmar
• Chad
• The Republic of Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen Another seven countries face partial restrictions, which block their nationals from permanently settling in the US or obtaining tourist or student visas. These are:
• Burundi
• Cuba
• Laos
• Sierra Leone
• Togo
• Turkmenistan
• Venezuela Trump defended the renewed travel ban earlier this year, arguing that a deadly attack in Boulder, Colorado had demonstrated the need for stricter vetting. According to him, the incident “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.”