A broad and expansive clamp down on immigration Wednesday. In one week, the Trump administration says it will pause processing visas from 75 countries. The list from the state department is long; 75 countries it deems its citizens are at “high-risk” of using public benefits, essentially takin g money from Americans. The list includes Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Nigeria, which is where Toluwani Ogunbayode is from. He has been waiting for his visa for years. “There’s a sense of course managing emotions of but of course there’s been a severe amount of capital time and effort invested in this process right from 2020 up until date and it’s not been very clear,” Ogunbayode said. The former international student studied in Texas and was later hired by a Texan company. Deepak Ahluwaliaan, an immigration attorney, says this impacts both his client and the employer. “As a result of this announcement, our client who had been waiting and doing it the right way and the employee had hired us again, like I said, five years ago, is now going to be told that we’re shutting the door in your face and you can’t do this,” Ahluwaliaan said. It’s an escalation from what has been the administration’s immigration crackdown. In June 2025, Trump announced a ban on people from certain countries, from entering the U.S. “Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump said. One attorney says it’s important to know what’s on pause, essentially the final stage. “Petitions between spouses or parents and children those are still processing normally,” said Andrew Newcomb. “The only thing that’s been held up in this case is the final stage which is the consular processing.” Regarding the announcement, the State Department said it’ll pause visa processing from those countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates” and it would remain active “Until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.” But a 2024 National Institutes of Health report said, with few exceptions, the U.S. doesn’t allow most immigrants, even those with legal documentation, to benefit from government policies to support low-income families. For example, most green card holders are subject to a five-year waiting period for some public assistance programs. “Generalization, it’s a heavily dangerous thing because not only does it soil the pack or stain the image of those who are not part of the stain, but it also silences the story and tells stories of those who are coming to help,” Ogunbayode said. ...read more read less