By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Jan. 14, 2026: The Trump administration has ordered an immediate suspension of immigrant visa processing for nationals from 75 countries, including multiple Caribbean nations, in what U.S. officials describe as a move to prevent immigrants deemed likely to become a “public charge” from settling in the United States.

The announcement came as Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, second left, spoke during a news conference on a fatal shooting in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026.Minnesota officials are suing over the “unprecedented surge” of US immigration authorities in the state, taking the Trump administration to court days after a federal agent shot and killed a Minneapolis woman. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

According to the U.S. State Department, the pause will take effect January 21, 2026, and will remain in place indefinitely while immigration screening and vetting procedures are reassessed.

Caribbean countries affected by the suspension include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The policy applies only to U.S. immigrant visas, which are issued to foreign nationals seeking to live permanently in the United States. It does not apply to non-immigrant visas such as tourist, student, temporary worker, or major event-related visas, including those connected to the upcoming World Cup.

State Department Cites “Public Charge” Concerns

In a statement, State Department officials said immigrants from countries on the list were found to access U.S. public benefits “at unacceptable rates,” prompting the freeze.

A State Department memo, first reported by Fox News Digital, instructs consular officers to refuse immigrant visas under existing law while the department conducts a broader reassessment of immigration processing standards.

“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” said State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott. “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States.”

The department reiterated its position in a post on X, stating that the pause would remain in effect “until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”

What This Means for Caribbean Families

The U.S. decision to freeze immigrant visa processing will have immediate and longer-term consequences for Caribbean families with relatives seeking to live permanently in the United States.

Who Is Affected

Caribbean nationals from those countries approved or applying for U.S. immigrant visas (green cards).

Family-based applicants, including spouses, parents, and adult children of U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Diversity visa (green card lottery) winners from affected Caribbean countries.

Who Is NOT Affected

Tourists (B1/B2 visas).

Students (F and M visas).

Temporary workers (H, O, P visas).

Short-term travel, including major event visas such as World Cup travel.

Caribbean nationals already inside the U.S. with lawful permanent residence.

Immediate Impact

Immigrant visa interviews may be canceled or refused starting Jan. 21.

Approved cases may be placed on hold while screening rules are reassessed.

Families already separated could face longer wait times with no clear end date.

Financial and Emotional Strain

Families who have paid filing fees, medical exams, and legal costs may face indefinite delays.

Elderly parents, caregivers, and dependents relying on reunification may be left in limbo.

Households planning relocation, schooling, or medical care may have to put plans on hold.

No Timeline for Resumption

The State Department has not announced how long the freeze will last.

Processing will resume only after a review of immigration screening procedures.

No country-specific exemptions have been announced.

What Families Can Do Now

Monitor official State Department and embassy notices.

Avoid travel or relocation plans based on pending immigrant visas.

Consult accredited immigration attorneys before taking further steps.

Do not submit new fees unless directed by U.S. consular officials.

Broader List Includes Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East

Beyond the Caribbean, the list of affected countries includes Somalia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand, Yemen, and dozens of others across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

The move represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has already included expanded deportations, visa restrictions, and heightened scrutiny of immigration applications.

Public Benefits Access Already Limited

Federal law already restricts most new immigrants’ access to public benefits. For example, many lawful permanent residents face a five-year waiting period before becoming eligible for programs such as food stamps, non-emergency Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, (CHIP).

Despite those limits, administration officials argue the suspension is necessary to protect U.S. taxpayers while screening standards are reviewed.

The State Department has not provided a timeline for when the reassessment will be completed or when immigrant visa processing for affected countries may resume.

RELATED: Caribbean Nationals From These Countries Face New U.S. Visa Bond Requirement Come Jan. 21

Get Ready To Shell Out More In Immigration Fees In 2026

By Ron Cheong

News Americas, TORONTO, Canada, Weds. Jan. 14, 2026: The eye of the inclement local turbulent weather seems to have largely run it course and is sputtering and grasping at straws now.   And so this is a good time to revisit some ancient wisdom which describes what we have seen, the reasons underlying it and age old frailties that foster it. Democracy is built on freedom, equality and collective decision-making – yet again and again it often elevates leaders who are unprepared, incompetent, or dangerously unfit for governance.

This is not a new paradox. More than 2,400 years ago, Plato warned that democracy contains the seeds of its own decay, not because people are evil, but because human desire, left undisciplined, overwhelms judgment. What feels like a uniquely modern crisis – celebrity leaders, emotional politics, social-media outrage, and the triumph of confidence over competence – is in fact the fulfillment of a pattern Plato described with unsettling precision.

How Democracy Decays From Within

In ‘The Republic,’ Plato outlines democracy’s lifecycle. It begins nobly, animated by a passion for freedom and equality. Over time, however, freedom becomes excess. Restraint is dismissed as oppression, expertise as elitism, and discipline as weakness.

 Citizens increasingly value pleasure, impulse, and self-expression over responsibility and wisdom. In such a climate, the distinction between qualified leadership and theatrical confidence erodes. The masses, Plato argued, come to prefer those who entertain them, flatter their desires, and promise immediate gratification over those who understand the complexities of governance.

This is not corruption imposed from above; it is decay generated from within. When citizens lose their internal discipline – the ability to delay gratification, tolerate complexity, and submit to reasoned authority- democracy becomes vulnerable to manipulation. Politics turns emotional. Serious debate gives way to spectacle. Popularity replaces competence.

The Rise Of The Demagogue

Plato warned that democratic excess naturally gives rise to the demagogue: a figure who presents himself as the pure embodiment of the people’s will. He attacks institutions, experts, and rivals as enemies of “the people,” while offering simplistic solutions to complex problems. He promises everything and demands nothing – except loyalty.

The contemporary parallels are hard to ignore. In Guyana, where the self-promoted richest man in the country, openly lacking any knowledge of governance, captured 16 of the Official Opposition’s 29 seats in the last election by projecting confidence and making promises untethered from reality. His appeal was not policy or competence, but certainty – certainty that reflected his followers’ desires back to them.

In this case fortunately, wealth was not the Teflon coating he used it would be.  He overestimated his pull on voters – other realities and hard facts stepped in and pre-empted what Plato’s saw as the aspiring demagogue’s ultimate and most dangerous stage: when the demagogue convinces his followers that he alone can solve their problems.

Chaos As A Political Strategy

Plato’s insight goes further. The demagogue, he argued, does not reduce chaos – he intensifies it. Disorder becomes a tool. Constant crisis exhausts the public, erodes attention, and weakens the capacity for independent judgment. Over time, citizens become overwhelmed by complexity and contradiction. Freedom, once cherished, begins to feel like a burden.

It is at this point – when the electorate is emotionally drained and intellectually fatigued – that democracy quietly surrenders itself. The people do not lose their freedom by force; they give it away. They trade deliberation for devotion, criticism for loyalty, and shared responsibility for the comforting belief that someone else will carry the weight of decision-making.

Plato warned that once this transition occurs, followers become incapable of separating themselves from the leader, regardless of what he does. His failures are reinterpreted as virtues. His abuses become necessary evils. Opposition is no longer disagreement but betrayal.

Why the Crowd Clings

This is the most uncomfortable part of Plato’s argument: societies fail not simply because of bad leaders, but because citizens lose the internal discipline required for self-government. An electorate can be “uneducated” not in the formal sense, but in the deeper sense of being unwilling to think, question, and restrain its own desires. Leaders who promise instant solutions flourish precisely because they absolve followers of responsibility.

When people surrender judgment, they also surrender agency. At that stage, abandoning the leader would require confronting their own role in the chaos – a step many find psychologically unbearable. It becomes easier to cling than to reflect.

An Ancient Warning For A Digital Age

Social media, algorithmic amplification, and celebrity politics have not created this problem, but they have accelerated it. Emotional propaganda travels faster than reason. Popularity is measurable, instant, and monetized. Plato could not have imagined platforms or algorithms, but he understood human psychology well enough to predict the outcome: a politics optimized for desire rather than truth.

What truly holds a free society together, Plato believed, is not unlimited freedom but self-restraint-within individuals as much as within institutions. When that restraint erodes, democracy does not collapse in a dramatic coup. It dissolves quietly, willingly, and from within.

Plato’s warning feels uncomfortably modern because it is not about systems alone, but about we ourselves.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ron Cheong, born in Guyana, is a community activist and dedicated volunteer with an extensive international background in banking. Now residing in Toronto, Canada, he is a fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto. His comments are his own and does not reflect those of News Americas or its parent company, ICN.

RELATED: From Aristotle To Algorithms: Democracy’s Perilous Retreat