The Trump administration on Tuesday said it paused all immigration applications, including green card and US citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public safety.

The list of countries includes Afghanistan and Somalia.

The official memorandum outlining the new policy cites the attack on US National Guard members in Washington last week in which an Afghan man has been arrested as a suspect. One member of the National Guard was killed and another was critically wounded in the shooting.

Trump has also stepped up rhetoric against Somalis in recent days, calling them “garbage” and saying “we don’t want them in our country”.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively prioritised immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major US cities and turning away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. His administration has frequently highlighted the deportation push but until now it has put less emphasis on efforts to reshape legal immigration.