Photo: Kyle Bray/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a memo on Tuesday that it will halt reviewing all citizenship, green card and asylum applications for immigrants from 19 countries.
Gail Breslow, executive Director of Project Citizenship, told WBZ NewsRadio dozens of her clients in Boston are now waiting in limbo after their oath ceremonies scheduled at Faneuil Hall on Dec. 4 were canceled.
“They say it’s based on unforeseen circumstances and that further communication will be forthcoming to include an additional interview and appointment or other actions,” she said.
This is the latest crack down on immigration from the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration two National Guards were shot, one killed and another in critical conditions, in Washington D.C. last month. As a response, the Trump administration declared a travel ban from countries “considered high-risk by the federal government.”
The 19 countries included in the travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen while the restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Breslow called this direct target “a despicable act of racism and xenophobia.”
Mayor Michelle Wu recalled the significance of the oath ceremony to her immigrant parents.
“It meant the entire world when they were able to raise their right hands and swear an oath to this country that they loved so much that they gave up everything they knew,” she said.
Meanwhile, the swearing-in ceremonies for affected incoming citizens have been postponed indefinite
WBZ NewsRadio's Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.