The Trump administration will be indefinitely suspending immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries as a part of its ongoing immigration crackdown. Those countries were singled out because federal officials claim their immigrants access public benefits, making them “public charges.”
Immigrants have come to Massachusetts in large numbers from some of those countries, including Brazil, Haiti, Colombia and Albania. Local immigrants are worried about how this will impact family and friends who were planning to come to the United States, or who already have pending visa applications.
Jonathan, a 37-year-old Haitian immigrant living in Massachusetts, has a pending asylum application. But his wife is still in Haiti, and he worries she will no longer be able to join him in the United States. GBH News is granting him a pseudonym due to his fear of deportation.
“It’s really hard to me. So I don’t know what I will do, what I can do, because ... I’m separated with my wife for up to three years. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t go back,” he said in a phone interview.
Jonathan is a journalist and says he faced death threats in Haiti, his reason for seeking asylum. He came to the United States in 2023.
He said he isn’t a public charge or benefiting from the government.
“I think it is a shame for a country with such great value, honor and achievement like the United States of America to have a policy to warn away people — this isn’t fair. This is my home,” he said.
The federal government will still accept visa application submissions and schedule applicants for appointments but will issue no visas for the time being, according to the State Department.
The State Department didn’t respond to request for comment about its changes. It posted on X Wednesday that would pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”
“The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the post read.
The type of visas impacted are those involving employment or those joining family in the United States. It doesn’t extend to tourist and student visas, which are considered nonimmigrant visas. The new policy does not mean any current visa holders will have theirs revoked.
The policy will go into effect January 21. The 75 countries are listed here.
Gabrielle Oliveira is an associate professor of education and Brazil studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She’s originally from Brazil and said its inclusion on the list came as a “surprise.” Brazilians make up the largest immigrant community in Massachusetts with around 140,000 people, according to a 2024 report by the Latino Equity Fund and The Boston Foundation.
“The main issue I see is with the families that I work with, who have been trying to reunify and have been in the process of trying to bring either their children that are in Brazil or a parent, somebody that is in Brazil that they’re trying to bring — that process has stopped,” Oliveira said.
The government’s concerns and claims about public charge could have impact on immigrants already here.
“There’s just an amount of miscommunication that this particular ban and it’s gonna spread, which means that a lot of the people that are allowed to use Medicare and SNAP and housing services, all of that, they may stop using life-saving services because they’re nervous that that could impact their [immigration] cases long-term,” Oliveira said.
“It’s definitely going to affect many, many families,” said the Rev. Myrlande DesRosiers, director of the Everett Haitian Community Center, which helps Haitians in the community. DesRosiers came to the United States when she was 15 but still has family in Haiti.
“It’s an additional fear — inpas. That’s the expression being used in Haitian Creole. It means, ‘there’s no way out,’” DesRosiers said. “Every single option that people could have is blocked.”
Massachusetts is home to tens of thousands of Haitians — the third-largest population in the United States behind Florida, according to World Population Review’s 2023 data. Haitians in the United States have also been impacted by the end of parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans last year, and the upcoming end of Temporary Protected Status for many recipients starting in February.
