Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she would recommend a travel ban on several countries that she said are “flooding” the United States with criminal activity.
Writing on social media on Monday, Noem said she met with President Donald Trump and decided to suggest “a total travel ban on all the damn countries that are flooding our nation with killers, leeches and rights junkies.”
Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later shared Noem’s post on their respective official social media accounts.
It is not yet clear which countries the proposed travel ban would affect, or when it might begin. The BBC has requested comment from DHS.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Monday night that Trump announced a travel ban on “third world and failed states” countries several months ago, and that Noem’s recommendation would “expand” that ban to encompass more countries.
On June 4, the White House listed 19 countries, primarily in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, that would face full or partial immigration restrictions.
Noem’s comments come days after two National Guard members were shot and killed in Washington DC last Wednesday. Before her comments on a travel ban, Noem wrote on social media that 100,000 Afghan nationals entered the United States under the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program, and she said DHS would review the screening process.
Authorities identified the suspect in the D.C. shooting as an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 under the program, designed for residents who had worked with U.S. troops during the 20-year U.S. deployment in Afghanistan.
According to emails from last year obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS News, the suspect had mental health issues after arriving in the US.
The Trump administration has stepped up its crackdown on immigration following the shooting, which killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and seriously injured 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told reporters Monday that Mr. Wolfe responded to nurses with a thumbs-up but remained in serious condition at the hospital.
All decisions on asylum applications were also suspended after the shooting in Washington, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow saying they would remain suspended “until we can ensure that every alien is screened and examined to the fullest extent possible.”
Edlow also said Trump asked him to review green cards issued to people who immigrated to the United States from 19 countries.
On Thursday, Trump himself went further, threatening to “permanently suspend migration” from all “third world countries.” The term “third world” was once used to describe poorer developing countries.
In his Thanksgiving social media post, Trump blamed refugees for “social dysfunction in America” and vowed to deport “anyone who is not a net asset” to the United States.
During his second presidential term, Trump sought to massively deport illegal immigrants, reduce the annual number of refugee admissions and end the automatic citizenship rights currently applicable to many people born in the United States.
The US Afghan Community Coalition issued a statement after the Washington attack, expressing sympathy for the victims’ families, calling for a “thorough investigation” and emphasizing that it was the act of one person. The statement also urges the U.S. government not to delay or suspend Afghan immigration applications.
“Twenty years of partnership between Afghanistan and the United States must not be forgotten,” the coalition statement said, nodding to the two-decade-long effort launched by the United States in 2001 to topple Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders and establish security in the country.
The UN has urged the United States to respect international agreements on asylum seekers, the Reuters news agency reported.
