Administration cancels some naturalization ceremonies for those on travel ban list
FILE – People wait in a cue before being led into a downtown Chicago building where an immigration court presides Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
(ABC NEWS)– Some naturalization ceremonies for people that were set to be sworn in as U.S. citizens from the 19 countries that have been put on the Trump administration’s new travel ban list have been placed on pause, according to multiple sources.
Naturalization ceremonies scheduled for later this week were canceled for nationals from Venezuela, Iran, and Afghanistan, sources said.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last week placed a pause on all immigration asylum cases pending a full review, following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
The pause applies to approvals and denials of all form types, including final adjudications of all cases for individuals from the 19 travel ban countries.
An immigration attorney told ABC News that some people from those countries have also had their naturalization interviews cancelled without explanation.
“The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best,” a DHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. “Citizenship is a privilege, not a right. We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
The 19 travel ban countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she recommended to President Donald Trump that more countries be added to the list, but didn’t say which ones.
A DHS spokesperson told ABC News the agency will announce the additional countries “soon.”
