Trump plans new rule to restrict green cards for citizens of 19 travel-ban countries | Explained

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The United States administration is preparing a new immigration policy that could make it harder for people from several countries on President Donald Trump’s travel ban list to obtain green cards and other immigration benefits, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The draft guidance, which is still being discussed, would instruct the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to treat “country-specific factors” from the travel ban as “significant negative factors” when officers review certain immigration applications.

If finalised, this would represent one of the most restrictive shifts in US immigration policy in recent years, extending the impact of Trump’s 2025 travel ban to people who are already inside the United States.

Doug Rand, who served as a senior USCIS official during the Biden administration, described the proposal as “a radical change.” He told The New York Times: “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.”

According to the DHS draft, USCIS officers would begin treating the travel ban’s “country-specific factors” as automatic negative marks against applicants. The change would affect green card, asylum, parole, and other discretionary immigration benefits. Citizenship applications, however, would not be impacted.

Under current rules, officers weigh factors such as community ties, criminal history, and humanitarian need. The proposed change would add nationality-based risk as a new element of consideration.

Michael Valverde, a former USCIS official who worked for over two decades with the agency, said the real test would be whether officers can still approve cases despite these new restrictions. “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,” he said.

Trump’s June travel ban barred citizens of 12 countries, mostly from 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, and Yemen.

Seven additional countries face partial restrictions. Citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela cannot permanently settle in the United States or obtain tourist and student visas.

Trump defended the restrictions at the time, saying that a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.”

According to the DHS documents, these countries either fail to share reliable screening and identity-verification data with US authorities or have weak passport systems that make it difficult to confirm a person’s identity. Some also lack adequate documentation procedures that meet USCIS standards.

Critics argue that the proposed rule unfairly punishes individuals for the shortcomings of their governments. Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst, told The New York Times: “There is no way that this policy wouldn't increase denials… the thing that's illegitimate about this policy is that they're predetermining that because someone is from a certain country.”

She also warned that applying the new rule to people already living in the United States would make it “more legally vulnerable.”

Under the original travel ban, several groups were exempted, including people with existing US visas, lawful permanent residents (green-card holders), and Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas. Athletes attending the 2026 World Cup or 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, certain US government employees, and persecuted ethnic and religious minorities from Iran were also excluded.

However, if the new proposal is approved, it could still affect some of these individuals when they apply for future benefits, unless the Department of Homeland Security adds new exemptions.

The draft policy has not yet been finalised, but immigration lawyers and rights groups say it could have a lasting impact on thousands of applicants if implemented, effectively extending the travel ban into the domestic immigration system.