Frozen Doors: Understanding America’s New Visa Reality—Part 2
January 22, 2026
3:20 am
Why These 75 Countries? The Real Logic Behind the List
The Question Everyone Asked — and Almost Everyone Asked It Wrong
The most persistent question that followed the U.S. pause on immigrant visa processing was also the most emotionally charged: Why these countries? The speed with which the question became an accusation revealed how poorly modern immigration systems are understood. For many observers, the list of affected countries appeared arbitrary, political, or even punitive. Some assumed race. Others assumed diplomacy. A few assumed vengeance. Very few assumed data.
Yet immigration policy at this level is rarely …
