Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The United States Government has ordered a review of green cards held by Sierra Leonean immigrants as part of a wider immigration scrutiny targeting nationals from 19 “countries of concern.” The decision follows the shooting and killing of two National Guard members in Washington, DC.
Joe Edlow, Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced the move in a post on X, describing it as a “full scale, rigorous” re-examination of immigration statuses. His statement came shortly after the US Department of Justice identified the shooter in the DC incident as Rahmanullah Lankawal, an Afghanistan national.
According to USCIS, as reported by CNN, the 19 countries included in the upcoming review are the same ones listed by the agency in June. Sierra Leone is among the countries on that list, which also names Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Yemen, Turkmenistan, Togo, Venezuela and others.
President Donald Trump, whose administration directed the re-evaluation, also announced that it will work to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.”
Although the statement did not specify which countries will be affected, Sierra Leone is one of 44 nations the United Nations classifies as least developed – countries often associated with the modern definition of “third world,” including being economically poor or non-industrialised.
Trump characterised the Washington shooting that prompted the new immigration measure as evidence of what he called America’s “single greatest national security threat.”
The announcement has left many Sierra Leonean permanent residents in the United States uncertain about the implications of the government’s decision, although many hope their immigration statuses will remain unchanged after the review process concludes.
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