The US president has halted decisions on many asylum claims, but the scope, legality and real-world impact of the pause remain unclear

Donald Trump has ordered a “pause” on asylum claims in the wake of last week’s shooting of two national guard members in Washington. The suspect in the shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is a 29-year-old Afghani national who assisted U.S. forces during the two-decade war there and was paroled into the United States in 2021. US citizenship and immigration services awarded him asylum earlier this year.

It’s not clear how long the president’s asylum pause will last. Trump told reporters Sunday that the directive “has no time limit, but it could be a long time”.