Trump says US will ‘permanently pause migration’ from ‘third world countries’
Donald Trump said he would “permanently pause” immigration to the United States from all “third world countries.”
The US president said in a post on Truth Social that the decision would “allow the US system to fully recover” from immigration policies that have eroded the “earnings and living conditions” of many Americans. He did not give details of his plan or name which countries might be affected.
The president also blamed refugees for causing “social dysfunction in America” and vowed to force the United States to remove “anyone who is not a net worth.”
His comments came a day after an Afghan national was accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., leaving one of them dead.
Trump had previously said the attack highlighted a major national security threat and vowed to take steps to remove any foreigner from “any country that doesn’t belong here.”
On Wednesday, the United States suspended processing all immigration requests from Afghans, saying the decision was made during a review of “security and investigative protocols.”
Then on Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would reexamine green cards issued to people who immigrated to the United States from 19 countries.
When asked by the BBC which countries were on the list, the agency drew attention to a statement made by the White House in June, which included Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela.
No further details were given about what the re-examination would be like.
Trump’s latest post Thursday night went further, promising to “end all federal aid and subsidies to noncitizens.”
The flurry of announcements follows reports that the suspect in the Washington DC attack arrived in the US in 2021 under a program offering special immigration protection to Afghans following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A former military commander told the BBC’s Afghan Service that authorities said Rahmanullah Lakanwa once worked with the CIA in Afghanistan and helped protect US forces at Kabul airport during evacuations.
