US Reviews 3.3 Million Green Card Holders Amid National Security Probe

(UNITED STATES) The Trump administration has ordered a sweeping security review of approximately 3.3 million green card holders from 19 countries labeled “of concern,” after a shooting in Washington, D.C. involving an Afghan national. The initiative, announced on November 27, 2025 by USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, represents one of the largest retroactive checks ever undertaken on lawful permanent residents in the United States.

Officials say the review will examine whether these immigrants were properly screened when they received their status and whether any should now face removal. The move raised fears among long‑settled families whose legal status had seemed secure.

Scope and scale of the review

According to figures described in an administration memo, the review touches a sizable share of the 12.8 million people who currently hold permanent resident cards nationwide. While officials have not said how long the process will last, the order directs officers to reopen already approved cases for every green card holder from the listed countries.

For many people who arrived years ago, this means background checks they believed were settled may now be run again. Immigration lawyers say they have rarely seen such a broad action focused on people who already passed multiple security layers before entering the country.

Geographic focus and affected communities

The geographic focus of the review is uneven. Caribbean Basin countries make up the largest share, with officials counting about 2.2 million green card holders from that region alone.

• Cuba: 1,000,000
• Haiti: 700,000
• Venezuela: 500,000

Many of these residents have lived in the United States for decades, own homes, and have U.S. citizen relatives. Now they face the prospect of detailed file checks and possible interviews as officers work through millions of records flagged under the new order. Community groups say anxiety has spread through immigrant neighborhoods.

Asian countries are also heavily represented. Afghanistan, Iran, Laos, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, and Yemen are among the nations flagged, with Iran alone accounting for at least 400,000 green card holders, many living in Southern California but also spread across the country.

Full list of the 19 countries of concern

• Afghanistan
• Myanmar
• Chad
• Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen
• Burundi
• Cuba
• Laos
• Sierra Leone
• Togo
• Turkmenistan
• Venezuela

For communities from these nations, the initiative feels like a renewed test of loyalty after years of living as permanent residents in the United States.

Official rationale and quoted instruction

Announcing the move, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said he had:

“directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

The administration points to a June executive order that labeled these governments as having “deficient vetting and information sharing,” arguing that U.S. officers often lacked reliable data when they first screened applicants. Officials now plan to re-check available records, including biometric and biographic information gathered when people applied for permanent residence.

Supporters in the administration say the Washington shooting shows why a review is necessary for green card holders from countries with limited institutional capacity.

Verification challenges and risks

Even some officials admit privately that the challenges are enormous. In at least seven of the 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Somalia, and Venezuela, U.S. officers have concluded there is no “competent or central authority for issuing passports and civil documents.”

• Without a trusted government office to confirm records or identity papers, many past immigrant files cannot easily be re-verified.
• That raises the possibility that green card holders from those nations could struggle to clear the review even if they have lived in the United States for years.
• Families fear that missing paperwork, not wrongdoing, could put them at risk.

Refugee admissions reassessment and asylum pause

Alongside the permanent resident review, the administration is reassessing the status of 180,000 refugees admitted between January 20, 2021 and February 20, 2025, according to a USCIS memo obtained by the Associated Press. That group includes people who later became green card holders after adjusting to lawful permanent resident status.

The memo states that if officers decide a person never met the standard for refugee admission, “the person has no right to appeal” and will be placed in removal proceedings in immigration court. Advocates warn that language leaves little room for mistakes in files created long ago.

At the same time, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has paused all decisions on asylum applications, with no end date announced. The agency was already handling an enormous backlog of about 1.4 million pending asylum claims nationwide before the new orders.

By tying up officers with reviews of Biden-era refugee admissions and millions of existing green card cases, critics say the government is effectively freezing the asylum system. For asylum seekers who have waited years for an interview, the halt means even longer uncertainty about whether they can stay in the country lawfully. Lawyers report clients canceling trips to travel.

Debate and legal outlook

The catalyst for the policy was a shooting in Washington, D.C., in which authorities say the suspect was an Afghan national who held a green card. Supporters of the review argue that even one missed threat shows past screening was too weak.

Opponents counter that the government is using a single case to cast suspicion on millions of people who have obeyed the law. They warn that reopening old files could lead to mistakes if records from war-torn countries are incomplete or missing. Some attorneys expect courts to see lawsuits from green card holders who lose status after these checks.

Guidance for affected individuals

USCIS has not released detailed public guidance for individuals whose files may be reopened, beyond confirming that the effort will cover every permanent resident from the listed countries.

• People who want general information about lawful permanent residence can consult the agency’s official green card page on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website: https://www.uscis.gov/green-card
  • Note: That page does not yet describe this new review.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the scale of the effort means some green card holders may not realize their cases are under scrutiny until they receive a notice or are stopped during routine immigration checks.

Key takeaways

The review covers roughly 3.3 million green card holders from 19 countries, potentially affecting families who have lived in the U.S. for decades.
The process may be hampered by lack of reliable records from some countries and could lead to removal proceedings without appeal for certain refugees.
Meanwhile, asylum decisions are paused, further increasing uncertainty across the immigration system.