Trump says he will ‘permanently pause’ migration from ‘third world countries’ after national guard shooting | Donald Trump

Donald Trump said he would “permanently suspend immigration from all third world countries,” a day after two National Guard members were shot and killed in Washington DC in an attack that has become a political flashpoint in the president’s ongoing crackdown on immigration.

In a social media message beginning with “a very happy Thanksgiving”, sent after 11 p.m. on Thursday, the US president said his administration would “end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-citizens” and remove “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States”.

It is not clear how the president would enact such a “pause” in migration. Previous bans issued by his administration have been challenged in courts and Congress.

Earlier in the night, Trump announced the death of Sarah Beckstrom, one of two guards killed in the attack near the White House on Wednesday. Authorities suspect the shooting was carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 as part of a Biden-era program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country.

He was granted asylum in April this year, during the Trump administration, Reuters reported, and on Thursday the CIA confirmed that he had worked with military units supported by the agency during the US war in Afghanistan.

Lakanwal was injured in the attack and remains in custody. A second National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is still fighting for his life, according to the president.

The president’s late-night message appeared to mark an escalation in the anti-migrant policies of his second term, dominated by a campaign of mass expulsions.

The extensive speech posted on the president’s Truth Social account did not identify the countries he intended to target or explain what he meant by “third world,” but instead used scathing anti-immigration rhetoric to blame problems such as high crime and America’s growing deficit on the presence of migrants and refugees, without evidence.

In his message, the president singled out Minnesota’s Somali communities, after promising last week to end temporary protected status for Somalis in the state.

Earlier in the day, Trump said the shooting in Washington DC “reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have complete control over who enters and stays in our country.”

In the 24 hours after the shooting, the president and members of his administration announced sweeping immigration reforms. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the processing of immigration applications involving Afghan nationals is suspended indefinitely pending further review.

Later, the Department of Homeland Security said the administration was expanding that measure to include a review of all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration. The ministry did not say whether it was reviewing all asylum cases coming only from Afghanistan or from other countries as well.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement that he was also leading a “rigorous, large-scale review of every green card for every alien from every country of concern,” at Trump’s request.

Edlow’s statement did not specify which countries are considered countries of concern. USCIS highlighted Trump’s June travel ban on citizens of 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Laos, Togo, Venezuela, Sierra Leone and Turkmenistan.

A travel ban issued in 2017 during Trump’s first term was widely criticized and faced legal and popular resistance when Trump attempted to impose it immediately after taking office. The policy was revamped by the White House after lengthy court battles, but repealed by Joe Biden in 2021.

National Guard troops have been positioned in Washington DC since August, when the Trump administration declared a “criminal emergency” and ordered them to move in to support federal and local law enforcement.

Shortly after Wednesday’s shooting, Trump announced he would send 500 additional National Guard troops to Washington DC.

Last week, a federal judge ordered an end to the National Guard deployment, but also suspended his order for 21 days to give the Trump administration time to withdraw troops or appeal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report