Overview
- The 2020 Final Rule on Security‑Related Inadmissibility will take effect on December 31, 2025, with procedural changes stripped out and only substantive public‑health and national‑security provisions retained.
- Under the updated rule, officials may deem an applicant ineligible if they exhibit symptoms of a communicable disease or were exposed during an incubation or contagion period during a recognized public‑health emergency.
- DHS and DOJ preserve authority to designate countries or regions with epidemics as sanitary‑risk zones, enabling tighter ineligibility determinations for people arriving from those areas.
- USCIS issued a December 2 memorandum temporarily halting processing of all Form I‑589 asylum and withholding applications, a pause that is expected to extend case timelines.
- Agencies describe the actions as supporting the Trump administration’s national‑security priorities, and news outlets report the changes could affect large numbers of Latino/Hispanic applicants.