Stuck in limbo: millions of professionals risk losing legal status under Trump pause

Deep Dive Immigration Stuck in limbo: millions of professionals risk losing legal status under Trump pause April 28, 20265:00 AM ET Ximena Bustillo The U.S. travel ban against 39 countries has thrown thousands of people into legal limbo, as the Trump administration has paused reviewing visa, green card, work permit, and citizenship applications. Nicole Xu for NPR hide caption toggle caption Nicole Xu for NPR The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were thrown into limbo after the Trump administration hit pause on reviewing their visa, green card, work permit and citizenship applications. The pause is targeted at those born in one of 39 countries, including Nigeria, Myanmar and Venezuela. The U.S. imposed travel restrictions on most of those countries after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen on a Washington, D.C. street in late November. Five months in, and the impact has been catastrophic for many people from those countries already living in the U.S., whether they're going to school or working in lucrative labor sectors like oil and gas, technology and medicine. NPR spoke with more than a dozen people on condition of anonymity, because they all fear adverse consequences for their immigration applications if they speak publicly. They asked NPR to not use their full names and name them only by their first initials. Sponsor Message Their experiences mirror each other: sudden financial insecurity, months of unemployment, academic and professional opportunities lost — and a crippling anxiety over the abrupt inability to live or work legally in the U.S. The pause is just one part of a larger effort by the administration to restrict legal forms of migration and boost mass deportation of immigrants. Immigration Logjam of U.S. immigration applications puts millions at greater risk of deportation "It hit really hard because I was actually in line for a promotion in July," said A, who leads a cancer clinical research team in Ohio and is from Myanmar. She has been in the U.S. since 2016. Her work authorization, which has been renewed before, is now paused by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). "It's very disappointing to know that something I've been working really hard towards for the last few years is now going to be out of reach just because of where I was born." The pause is also hurting some U.S. citizens who want to get legal status for their immigrant spouses — and the Americans who rely on foreign-born workers in dozens of key industries, from health care to cybersecurity. For example, in the U.S., both naturalized and noncitizen foreign-born workers work in STEM fields, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, at slightly higher rates than U.S.-born workers, according to the latest data from the National Science Foundation. Sponsor Message The Trump administration says the pause is necessary while officials update the policies and procedures for reviewing these applications. Loading... Loss of opportunity is a common theme. M, who lives in Virginia and is from Nigeria, first came to the U.S. in 2011 for her undergraduate and master's degrees. She then pursued her medical degree and last month got into, or matched, with a surgery residency program in Oregon. But because of the hold, her visas and work permit processing are frozen. That means she may not be able to start her residency at all. "I cried so much the day after my match, because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I worked so hard to…

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