Trump immigration pause: U.S. citizenship interviews being canceled in move Long Island lawyers say is 'un-American'

President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown appears to have moved into a new phase, with some on the cusp of becoming U.S. citizens getting their final interview appointments canceled this week at federal immigration centers, including one in Holtsville, immigration attorneys said Wednesday.

One Suffolk County man who has held a green card for 30 years and was waiting for his interview in Holtsville had the appointment canceled, said Andrea Rodriguez Tarazi, an immigration attorney based in Bohemia.

The Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead also had several clients get their citizenship interview appointments canceled this week, said Jessica Greenberg, head of legal services for the group.

"It couldn't be more wrong," Greenberg said. "It couldn’t be more un-American."

"These are individuals who already have been vetted thoroughly," she added. "Many have lived in the United States longer than they've lived in their country of origin."

Trump this week put a halt to citizenship and green card applications filed by immigrants who hail from one of a list of 19 countries, mainly in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. He made the move — and a slew of others in the last few days — after a native of Afghanistan was charged with shooting two National Guard members, including one who died, in Washington, D.C., last week.

Trump has framed the actions as necessary to curb violence by immigrants.

Last week, he said on TruthSocial, "I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover."

But advocates contend the president is using the shooting as an excuse to stop immigration from countries that have fallen out of favor with him, and that the actions are tinged with xenophobia. 

On Tuesday during a televised cabinet meeting, he called refugees from Somalia "garbage" and said, "We don’t want them in our country."

Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, said in a post on social media Monday that she was recommending Trump enact "a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."

The 19 countries on the list are: Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Republic of Congo,  Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen.

Patrick Young, an immigration law professor at Hofstra Law School, said in an interview: "I think what he's trying to do is to further marginalize immigrants from non-white countries. If we look at those 19 countries you don't really have a lot of violence from those individuals" living in the United States.

"These steps have nothing to do with the terrorism that occurred in Washington last week," he added.

The cancellations include interviews for people seeking green cards as well as U.S. citizenship, attorneys said. People who have a green card — or legal permanent residency — can apply for citizenship after five years, or three years if they are married to a U.S. citizen.

The latest actions extend beyond Trump’s initially stated goal of going after dangerous immigrants in the country illegally and now appear to be focusing on those with legal status, attorneys said.

The crackdown, though, may extend beyond the list of 19, attorneys said. The Suffolk man who has had his green card for 30 years is from Ecuador, Rodriguez Tarazi said.

"It’s frustrating," she said. "He's the kind of person who shouldn't have an issue. They’ve been vetting him for 30 years, every time he renews his green card."

Interviews also have been canceled at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, attorneys said.

Exact numbers on how many people from the listed countries are living on Long Island and are applying for citizenship or green cards were not available, but the region has sizable populations from some countries — and little from others.

The largest are Haiti (34,090), Iran (6,807), Afghanistan (2,400), Venezuela (2,292) and Cuba (2,113), according to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Haitians appear to be the largest group on Long Island targeted by the interview cancellations so far, Greenberg said. Cancellations are happening across the country, she said, based on information she has received from immigration attorney networks.

"Never in my imagination, and I've been doing this for about 15 years, did I ever think that we would have to" worry about green card holders not getting citizenship interviews, she said. "Green card people were always the people who were safe. Now they're at risk."

Since the National Guard shootings, Trump has stopped all immigration applications from Afghans and has ordered a slew of new regulations escalating the immigration crackdown.

He halted all asylum applications and pledged to have the federal government review previously approved ones. He also ordered reviews of green cards granted to natives of certain countries and even "naturalization" or permanent U.S. citizenship granted to green card holders. He has suggested the approvals could be revoked.

Newsday's Arielle Martinez contributed to this story.