Ximena Bustillo An asylum seeker with a canceled appointment to enter the United States waits to speak to a Mexican immigration official as he reviews the CBP One app at the El Chaparral border crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico, in January 2025. Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption The Homeland Security Department has lifted its total ban on reviewing asylum applications, though the pause remains in effect for about 40 countries. The Trump administration in November paused the processing of some 4 million asylum applications filed to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the processing of applications for visas, naturalizations and asylum. The pause came as a part of a slew of restrictions on immigration after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26, 2025. One of the Guard members died the next day from her injuries. At the time, the Trump administration called the move a national security necessity.…