(Washington, D.C.) The Trump administration has ordered an indefinite halt to all asylum decisions in the United States, freezing thousands of pending cases after the November 26, 2025 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., according to internal directives and public statements.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow confirmed the move, saying:
“USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
The order means asylum officers have been told to stop issuing approvals, denials, or even administrative closures, bringing the asylum system’s core function to a standstill.
Internal guidance obtained by CBS News instructed asylum officers that once they reach the point in a case where they would normally record an outcome, they must stop. The directive read:
“Once you’ve reached decision entry, stop and hold.”
In-person appointments where asylum seekers were scheduled to return to USCIS to receive decisions on their cases were canceled, at least in the initial phase of the pause.
The halt applies to all asylum decisions, not just those connected in any way to the November 26, 2025 attack, tying safety concerns after the shooting directly to the handling of people who have already completed interviews and, in many cases, lengthy security checks. The administration has not set a date for when adjudications will resume, describing the pause as indefinite and tying it to an open-ended review of vetting procedures.
Joseph Edlow’s statement signals that the administration is casting the issue as one of national security screening, using language that echoes earlier Trump-era restrictions on migration. By saying asylum decisions will not resume “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” Edlow placed the burden on tightening controls rather than on restoring regular processing.
The internal USCIS instructions obtained by CBS News are unusually blunt. Telling officers, “Once you’ve reached decision entry, stop and hold,” makes clear that even cases ready for immediate approval or denial cannot move forward. Officers were instructed to refrain from approving, denying, or closing asylum applications of any kind, according to the same guidance.
The administration has not publicly released figures on how many people are directly affected by the new pause. A claim circulating that 2 million asylum claims have been halted is not supported by the available documents, which do not give a total number of cases on hold. What is clear from the directives is that every pending asylum file that has not yet reached a final written outcome is now frozen, with no decisions issued and no clear timeline for relief.
This latest order comes on top of a broader series of immigration actions that have sharply restricted humanitarian pathways to the United States 🇺🇸 throughout 2025. In January 2025, President Trump placed an indefinite pause on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, halting the processing of refugee applications and canceling refugee travel to the country. For 2026, the administration announced plans to cut refugee admissions to 7,500, a record low, compared with a 125,000 cap for 2025.
The difference between refugees and asylum seekers is legal rather than practical: refugees apply from outside the United States, while asylum seekers ask for protection after reaching U.S. soil or a U.S. border. With the refugee program paused and asylum decisions now stopped, both routes for people fleeing persecution have been sharply narrowed.
In January 2025, President Trump also took executive action to close the border to a vast majority of migrants, including most asylum seekers, building on limits that Former President Biden put in place in 2024. Those earlier Biden-era measures had already reduced access to asylum at the border, but the new Trump directives went further, aiming to block most new arrivals from even entering to request protection.
The asylum decisions freeze announced after November 26, 2025 affects those who had already managed to file claims despite the border restrictions and were waiting for outcomes. Many would have already undergone interviews with asylum officers and background checks. Now, even those who have completed every required step will not receive a result, at least for the duration of the pause.
The Trump White House has framed these steps as part of a broader security push, arguing that both refugees and asylum seekers must face tougher checks before being allowed to stay. Joseph Edlow’s reference to vetting “to the maximum degree possible” reflects that focus on screening. But because the administration has not presented public evidence tying the National Guard shooting directly to the asylum system, critics are likely to question whether the decision amounts to a blanket crackdown rather than a targeted response.
Travel and entry to the United States have also been sharply narrowed this year through new country-based restrictions. On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10949, restricting citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States. The proclamation also imposed partial bans on citizens from seven additional countries, though those were not detailed in the available summary.
These travel restrictions add another layer to the administration’s approach: people from the listed countries now face bans on entering the U.S. at all, while refugees and asylum seekers from elsewhere face an asylum system where decisions are frozen or a refugee pipeline that has been shut down. Combined with the January 2025 border order, the effect is that very few migrants, whether fleeing persecution or seeking economic opportunity, can legally cross into the country and receive a timely decision.
For asylum seekers already in the United States, the human impact of the asylum decisions halt is felt most acutely in daily uncertainty. Many applicants are not allowed to bring family members until they receive asylum, and some rely on work authorization that is tied to pending cases and can be affected by long delays. The order that officers must “stop and hold” at the point of decision means that people who arrived for what they thought would be a final answer will instead leave interviews with no clarity about when, or if, they will hear back.
The pause also places pressure on the asylum workforce within USCIS. Officers who are trained to weigh testimony, country conditions, and legal standards now have to carry open files without being able to complete them. That could create a growing backlog that will take months or years to clear even after the halt is lifted, especially if staffing or funding does not increase.
Legal advocacy groups are likely to examine whether the blanket suspension of decisions can be challenged in court, especially if it is applied uniformly to all asylum applicants regardless of their individual risk or security checks already completed. Unlike previous policy changes that altered standards for who qualifies for asylum, this directive does not change the law on eligibility; instead, it stops the government from applying it at all, at least for now.
The administration’s earlier steps on refugee admissions also drew sharp attention from humanitarian organizations and resettlement agencies. Cutting the target to 7,500 refugees for 2026, after setting a cap of 125,000 for 2025, forced many agencies that help resettle refugees to scale back or close programs. The new halt on asylum decisions extends uncertainty from overseas processing centers into domestic asylum offices, where similar support networks often help new arrivals find housing, work, and legal advice.
For people trying to follow the shifting rules, official guidance has become more important and more complex. The asylum process, explained on the USCIS asylum information page, sets out how individuals can request protection if they fear persecution in their home countries. That basic legal framework remains in place, but the current pause means that even those who follow all steps may not see their cases resolved for an unknown period.
The decision to link the shooting of two National Guard members on November 26, 2025 to a nationwide freeze on asylum decisions underscores how security incidents can quickly reshape immigration policy. Joseph Edlow’s declaration that
“USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”
makes clear that the administration intends to keep the pause in place until it is satisfied with new screening measures, with no clear public roadmap for what those will involve.
As 2025 draws to a close, the combination of an asylum decisions halt, an indefinite refugee program suspension, tighter border controls, and sweeping travel restrictions under Proclamation 10949 has created one of the most restrictive environments for humanitarian migration to the United States in recent history. For asylum seekers already in the country, the order to “stop and hold” at the point of decision has turned long waits into open-ended limbo, with no indication yet from the Trump administration or from Joseph Edlow on when the system will start moving again.
Following the November 26, 2025 shooting, USCIS indefinitely paused all asylum decisions, instructing officers to “stop and hold” at decision entry. Director Joseph Edlow said the move aims to expand vetting and screening, though no public evidence tied the attack to asylum cases. The pause freezes thousands of pending files, cancels decision appointments, and compounds other 2025 policies: a halted refugee program and Proclamation 10949 travel restrictions. The administration provided no timetable for resumption, raising legal and humanitarian concerns.
