The Trump administration's latest actions on immigration policy appear to be based on punitive hostility toward people of particular nationalities and carry an unmistakable current of racism as well, Human Rights Watch said today. The administration recently suspended immigration processing for nationals from 19 countries on its existing travel ban list and suspended pending asylum procedures for all nationalities in a dramatic escalation of its anti-immigrant policy agenda.
"Nothing meaningfully links the 19 countries except the administration's opportunistic stigmatization and exclusion of people based on where they were born," said Tanya Greene, US Program director at Human Rights Watch. "This sweeping change is not about safety. It is about scapegoating entire nationalities to justify discriminatory policies."
In the immediate aftermath of a deadly incident in Washington, DC on November 26, 2025, in which an Afghan immigrant allegedly attacked two National Guard troops, killing one, President Donald Trump said he would "permanently pause migration from all third world countries," alongside other racially charged comments disparaging Somalis in particular.
Those comments were followed by new policies that halt a range of immigration processes, including green card and citizenship grants, for people from the following countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. Additionally, there is a suspension of all pending asylum applications regardless of the asylum seeker's country of nationality.
US officials have not offered any evidence that asylum seekers generally or nationals from these 19 countries pose heightened public safety risks compared to people from anywhere else. Instead, the new policy directed against the 19 nationality groups revives and expands the logic of first Trump administration's notorious "Muslim ban," Human Rights Watch said.
The new restrictions undermine US commitments under international human rights law, including obligations to ensure the right to seek asylum.
"These policies will tear families apart, endanger people fleeing persecution, and further damage US credibility on human rights," Greene said. "The administration should rescind them immediately."
