The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a sweeping new USCIS directive that freezes all pending asylum applications nationwide, halts all pending applications and orders the re-review of immigration benefits for nationals of the 19 countries targeted in President Trump’s updated June 2025 Muslim and African travel ban. In response, CAIR is urging Congress to immediately investigate this directive, exercise greater oversight over DHS and act to prevent the discriminatory expansion of immigration policies that disproportionately target Muslim, African and immigrant communities.
The new USCIS memo PM-602-0192, issued December 2, 2025, significantly expands the administration’s already overbroad and ideologically driven immigration restrictions. The 19-country list includes eight overwhelmingly Muslim-majority nations such as Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Turkmenistan, as well as other countries with significant Muslim populations, including Chad and Togo.
The memo halts all asylum adjudications and requires nationals of these countries to undergo new interviews and security reviews even if they were already vetted and approved under existing procedures.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said:
“In light of this sweeping order, we urge Congress to exercise greater oversight of USCIS and ICE and to investigate the politicized expansion of these discriminatory policies. Freezing asylum nationwide and forcing thousands of people from these 19 countries to undergo new interviews after they have already been thoroughly vetted adds no meaningful safety enhancement.”
“Punishing entire nationalities for the actions of a few is ineffective, discriminatory and morally indefensible. The overwhelming majority of asylees and immigrants from these countries are law-abiding people who have complied with every requirement of our immigration system. They should not be subjected to repeated re-scrutiny simply because of their nationality.
“This directive arrives at the same moment Somali Minnesotans are facing politically driven ICE intimidation and Afghan families are being subjected to collective punishment under sweeping immigration processing bans. These coordinated actions reflect an ideological agenda rather than legitimate national security needs.
“We call on Congress to move quickly to advance protections such as the No Ban Act and to ensure that federal agencies cannot weaponize immigration law to target entire nationalities or communities. Lawmakers must restore fairness, due process and accountability in every stage of the immigration system and stand against the discriminatory misuse of federal power.”
He noted that immigrants and asylum seekers from the 19 travel ban countries already undergo some of the most stringent screening procedures in the United States immigration system. Many have been interviewed multiple times, fingerprinted, biometrically screened and cleared by several federal agencies.
Reopening and re-interviewing people who have already passed every required check provides no additional security benefit. Instead, it imposes severe delays, destabilizes families and unjustly casts suspicion on entire communities.
The USCIS directive comes amid a nationwide escalation of federal actions targeting African, Muslim and immigrant communities. This week in Minnesota, CAIR-MN documented politically motivated ICE activity aimed at Somali Minnesotans, including intimidation at private homes and surveillance in Somali neighborhoods.
CAIR-CA has also condemned the administration’s recent sweeping halt on all immigration processing for Afghan nationals, describing the measure as collective punishment that threatens refugees, green card holders, family reunification cases and asylum seekers.
The new USCIS order reflects the same ideological escalation underpinning the June 2025 Muslim and African travel ban. That ban suspended immigration and nonimmigrant visas for 12 countries and imposed partial restrictions on seven others while still exempting individuals who already possessed lawful status or who had previously been granted asylum or refugee protection.
The new USCIS memo goes further by targeting people already inside the United States, freezing all asylum applications regardless of nationality and ordering the re-examination of previously approved immigration benefits for nationals of the 19 countries listed in the June 2025 ban. In addition, it halts all pending immigration applications for the 19 countries.
Community members who experience immigration delays, harassment or rights violations are encouraged to contact CAIR for assistance:
Request Legal Help or Report an Incident
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com