The Trump administration has enacted new immigration policies, banning 19 countries from entering the US. The move comes after an Afghan man shot two US National Guard – with one later succumbing to her injuries and another still in hospital as of press time.
According to Reuters “The Trump administration on Tuesday said it paused all immigration applications, including green card and U.S. citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries”.
The list of countries include: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, which were subjected to the most severe immigration restrictions in June, including a full suspension on entries with a few exceptions.
Others on the list of 19 countries, which were subjected to partial restrictions in June, are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The US Diversity Visa Lottery which is usually announced in mid-October has still not been announced and the US State Department has indicated that any rumours of the lottery being played are false. It remains unclear whether the lottery will be announced this year at all or if the Trump administration will put a complete halt to the program which helps non-Americans get permanent residence in the US. Trump also said Green Card holders will be subject to review following the new immigration policies. More than 90,000 Cameroonians reside in the US on various visa types.
