Following a shooting in D.C. that tragically killed a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard Specialist and left her colleague, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, critically injured, the Trump Administration has intensified its immigration crackdown.

The sole suspect in the shooting has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 through “Operation Allies Welcome.” Lakanwal had previously worked for various U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan, including a CIA-backed unit in Kandahar, a known Taliban stronghold, and qualified for the resettlement program. While a motive remains undetermined, the incident has rapidly become a focal point in the debate surrounding immigration, prompting President Donald Trump and his Administration to announce a series of new security measures—some of which are being criticized as “collective punishments” by opponents.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director stated on Thursday that, under President Trump’s instruction, he has “directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern.”

In a subsequent social media post, he echoed President Trump’s remarks and criticized the Biden Administration’s handling of immigration matters.

“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior Administration’s reckless resettlement policies. American safety is non-negotiable,” Edlow affirmed.

The posts did not specify which “countries of concern” would be targeted for the green card reexamination process. However, USCIS confirmed, in an email to TIME, that the countries in question are the 19 nations originally listed in a June presidential proclamation titled “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”

In that proclamation, Trump had declared his intention to “fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals” from these 12 countries:

• Afghanistan
• Burma
• Chad
• Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen

Trump also sought to “partially restrict and limit the entry of nationals” from an additional seven countries:

• Burundi
• Cuba
• Laos
• Sierra Leone
• Togo
• Turkmenistan
• Venezuela

The proclamation noted that all of these restrictions “distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants.”

USCIS elaborated on its elevated security measures in a press release, stating the new guidance allows for “negative, country-specific factors to be considered when vetting” individuals from the 19 countries listed above. An example provided for these specific factors was “a country’s ability to issue secure identity documents.”

The guidance became effective immediately and “applies to requests pending or filed on or after” November 27.

Prior to this announcement, on Wednesday night, USCIS declared that all immigration processing for Afghan nationals had been indefinitely suspended.

“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” read a statement posted to social media. “The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission.”

Trump’s anti-immigration stance was a central theme of the Thanksgiving message he delivered on Thursday night, during which he announced he “will permanently pause migration from all third world countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

The Trump Administration’s decision to intensify its immigration crackdown following the D.C. shooting has sparked apprehension and concern among immigration communities and organizations.

Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit dedicated to “bringing together organizations with a shared commitment to fulfilling the United States’ duty to at-risk Afghans,” has argued against what he views as collective punishment.

“This man [the suspect] alone is responsible for his crime. His actions do not represent the Afghan community or Afghan wartime allies or anyone who stood with us for 20 years,” VanDiver stated during an appearance on MS NOW News, adding that “every community has people [lone wolves] that mean to do harm.”

Richard Bennett, from the United Nations, has echoed VanDiver’s concerns, contending that Afghan nationals and others born outside of the U.S. should not be penalized as a collective.

“The perpetrator should face accountability, but the entire Afghan community must not be punished due to the actions of one individual,” he stated, adding that such actions would be “terribly unjust.”