Saturday, 29 November, 2025
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that his administration would “permanently pause” migration from what he termed “Third World Countries”, linking the decision to an attack near the White House that he blamed on immigration vetting failures during the Biden administration.
Trump did not specify which nations would fall under the category of “Third World Countries”, nor did he clarify what a “permanent pause” would entail. He said the suspension would apply even to cases approved under former President Joe Biden.
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions — including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s autopen — and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He further pledged to end federal benefits and subsidies for “non-citizens”, to “denaturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity”, and to deport any foreign national considered a public charge, security threat, or “non-compatible with Western civilisation”.
The White House and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s remarks followed the death of a National Guard member who was fatally shot in an ambush near the White House, an attack investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national.
Homeland Security officials earlier confirmed that Trump had ordered a sweeping review of asylum cases approved under Biden, as well as a re-examination of Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
However, a US government file seen by Reuters shows that the alleged gunman — identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal — was granted asylum this year under the Trump administration, not Biden’s. Lakanwal originally entered the United States in 2021 under the Afghan resettlement programme introduced by Biden following the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power.
In a separate post shortly before his announcement, Trump claimed that “hundreds of thousands” of evacuees had entered the US “unvetted and unchecked” during what he described as the “horrendous” 2021 Kabul airlift.
On Wednesday, USCIS suspended the processing of all immigration requests related to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
“These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations,” Trump said. “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”
The killing of a US service member on American soil by an immigrant — even one legally present — is expected to send tremors through the country’s political landscape. The incident is likely to intensify debate over immigration, bolster Trump’s hard-line agenda, and broaden the conversation beyond illegal entry to questions of vetting, eligibility and national security.
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US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that his administration would “permanently pause” migration from what he termed “Third World Countries”, linking the decision to an attack near the White House that he blamed on immigration vetting failures during the Biden administration.
Trump did not specify which nations would fall under the category of “Third World Countries”, nor did he clarify what a “permanent pause” would entail. He said the suspension would apply even to cases approved under former President Joe Biden.
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions — including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s autopen — and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He further pledged to end federal benefits and subsidies for “non-citizens”, to “denaturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity”, and to deport any foreign national considered a public charge, security threat, or “non-compatible with Western civilisation”.
The White House and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s remarks followed the death of a National Guard member who was fatally shot in an ambush near the White House, an attack investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national.
Homeland Security officials earlier confirmed that Trump had ordered a sweeping review of asylum cases approved under Biden, as well as a re-examination of Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
However, a US government file seen by Reuters shows that the alleged gunman — identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal — was granted asylum this year under the Trump administration, not Biden’s. Lakanwal originally entered the United States in 2021 under the Afghan resettlement programme introduced by Biden following the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power.
In a separate post shortly before his announcement, Trump claimed that “hundreds of thousands” of evacuees had entered the US “unvetted and unchecked” during what he described as the “horrendous” 2021 Kabul airlift.
On Wednesday, USCIS suspended the processing of all immigration requests related to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
“These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations,” Trump said. “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”
The killing of a US service member on American soil by an immigrant — even one legally present — is expected to send tremors through the country’s political landscape. The incident is likely to intensify debate over immigration, bolster Trump’s hard-line agenda, and broaden the conversation beyond illegal entry to questions of vetting, eligibility and national security.
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