Expect massive visa backlogs: Ex-USCIS official's warning as Trump orders review of Green Cards

A massive delay in processing all forms of immigration applications is now inevitable as the Trump administration ordered a re-review of all Green Cards issued during the Biden administration to the nationals of 19 countries of concern. All asylum cases approved under the Biden administration from these 19 countries will also be reviewed again.

Ricky Murray, who was chief of staff of Refugee and International Operations at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) until November 29, told Newsweek that such orders are unprecedented and this will slow down the immigration work, leading to a backlog.


"This is going to have a tremendous effect on the backlog. Having to pull resources together to review hundreds of thousands of cases is going to require thousands of man-hours. These man-hours are only going to be taken from processing of new filings," Murray said. "There are finite resources. You can expect to see significant delays in the processing of any new forms in the area that USCIS steals the resources from to do this re-review."

"The memo is unique in that it is using a single event to call into question the validity of the benefits of thousands of immigrants, almost all who have nothing to do with this isolated event. Immigrants of 18 of the 19 countries have no ties to this event, and even a very limited number of Afghans have ever even had contact with the perpetrator of the heinous event spurring this release of this memo," Murray said.

Review of Green Cards, asylum benefits

• The USCIS has announced an immediate hold on all asylum requests pending a comprehensive review. This has nothing to do with any country. This is applicable to all asylum applications. An individual can apply for asylum in the US when they can prove that they are facing persecution in their own country.
• The administration has halted all immigration requests from 19 countries pending review.
• The administration will also conduct a comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests from these 19 countries.
• The candidates may get called for a potential interview and, if necessary, a re-interview, to fully assess all national security and public safety threats along with any other related grounds of inadmissibility or ineligibility. The administration said it will now do a case-by-case review and assessment.