USCIS Implements Sweeping National Security Crackdown After D.C. National Guard Shooting by Afghan National

In a swift and dramatic response to the shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new policy guidance that allows officers to significantly tighten vetting for aliens from 19 high-risk countries.

The action, detailed in a Policy Alert (PA-2025-26) and an accompanying press release follows the arrest of an Afghan national in connection with the attack, which occurred near the White House.

The new guidance, titled “Impact of INA 212(f) on USCIS’ Adjudication of Discretionary Benefits,” is effective immediately and applies to all discretionary benefit requests pending or filed on or after November 27, 2025.

It authorizes USCIS officers to consider relevant country-specific factors as significant negative factors when adjudicating requests for discretionary immigration benefits, which include applications for Adjustment of Status (Green Cards), requests for extension of nonimmigrant stay, and change of nonimmigrant status.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow framed the policy as a necessary move to restore security, directly attributing the need for the crackdown to perceived failures of the previous administration.

“My primary responsibility is to ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” said Director Edlow. “Yesterday’s horrific events make it abundantly clear the Biden administration spent the last four years dismantling basic vetting and screening standards… The Trump administration takes the opposite approach. Effective immediately, I am issuing new policy guidance that authorizes USCIS officers to consider country-specific factors as significant negative factors when reviewing immigration requests. American lives come first.”

The countries subject to the enhanced scrutiny are the 19 identified in Presidential Proclamation 10949 (PP 10949), which restricts the entry of foreign nationals deemed a risk to U.S. national security. The policy states that the updated guidance will “further strengthen” the implementation of PP 10949 by incorporating additional considerations into the vetting process.

These country-specific factors include, but are not limited to, a country’s ability to issue secure identity documents and the existence of insufficient vetting and screening information that limits USCIS’s ability to assess risks. The guidance, which revises multiple sections of the USCIS Policy Manual, comes after the Trump administration had already halted refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and the entry of Afghan nationals in its first year of office.