Trump says US will suspend immigration from ‘third world countries’

US President Donald Trump has threatened to step up his crackdown on immigration, pledging to “permanently suspend immigration” to the US from all “third world countries”, while tackling his country’s “refugee burden”.

Trump’s social media post came after he announced that a member of the US National Guard had died after a shooting in Washington DC – for which an Afghan national was blamed.

He did not give further details or indicate which countries might be affected. Such a plan could face legal challenges and has already sparked resistance from United Nations agencies.

The president’s announcements after Wednesday’s deadly attack represent a further hardening of his stance toward migrants during his second presidency.

Among other measures, Trump has sought to enact mass expulsions of migrants who entered the United States illegally, significantly reduce the annual number of refugee admissions and end automatic citizenship rights that currently apply to almost everyone born on American soil.

Following Wednesday’s shooting, Trump vowed to expel any foreigner from the United States “from any country that doesn’t belong here.” The same day, the United States suspended processing all immigration applications from Afghans, saying the decision was made pending a review of “security and screening protocols.”

Then, on Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would review green cards issued to people who immigrated to the United States from 19 countries. The agency did not explicitly mention Wednesday’s attack.

Asked by the BBC which countries were on the list, USCIS pointed to a June White House proclamation that included Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela. There were no further details on what form the review would take.

Trump’s two-part message Thursday night went even further, pledging to “end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens.”

The US president wrote in a Truth Social article that it would “allow the American system to fully recover” from policies that have eroded the “earnings and living conditions” of many Americans.

In his message, the president also blamed refugees for “social dysfunction in America” ​​and vowed to deport “anyone who is not a net asset” to the United States.

The message, which Trump billed as a “Happy Thanksgiving greeting,” was filled with anti-immigrant rhetoric.

He said “hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia were completely taking over the once great state of Minnesota” and took particular aim at the state’s Democratic lawmakers.

“I will permanently suspend migration from all third world countries to allow the American system to fully recover,” the president wrote.

The term “third world” is a term used in the past to describe poorer developing countries.

The White House and USCIS have not yet released additional details about Trump’s plan, which Trump did not directly link in his message to Wednesday’s attack.

The president had already imposed a travel ban on Afghan nationals – and 11 other countries, mainly in Africa and Asia – earlier this year. Another travel ban targeting a number of Muslim-majority countries was enacted during his first term.

The UN responded to Trump’s comments by urging his administration to respect international agreements regarding asylum seekers.

“We expect all countries, including the United States, to honor their commitments under the 1953 Refugee Convention,” the deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general told Reuters.

Trump’s response amounts to scapegoating of migrants in the United States, said Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Newsday program ahead of Trump’s latest comments, Mr McKinney stressed that the attacker’s motive was not known.

“These kinds of issues – they don’t know skin color, they don’t know nationality,” he said. “When someone becomes radicalized or suffers from some type of mental illness, they can come from any background.”

The wave of announcements comes after officials said Washington DC shooting suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal came to the United States in 2021.

He traveled as part of a program offering special immigration protections to Afghans who had worked with U.S. forces following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Reports continue to trickle in about the extent of Mr. Lakanwal’s work alongside the Americans.

Mr. Lakanwal previously worked alongside the CIA, said the current director of the agency.

He helped keep US forces at Kabul airport as thousands rushed to flee Afghanistan before the Taliban took power, a former military commander who served alongside him told the BBC.

This father of five children had been recruited into Unit 03 of the Kandahar Strike Force nine years earlier.

His unit was known locally as the Scorpion Forces, initially operating under the CIA, but ultimately for the Afghan intelligence service known as the National Directorate of Security.

Mr Lakanwal was a specialist in GPS trackers, the former commander told the BBC, describing him as a “sporty and cheerful character”.

Mr. Lakanwal was allegedly controlled by the United States both when he began his work alongside the CIA and when he eventually traveled to the United States, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to CNN.

A childhood friend told The New York Times that Mr. Lakanwal had mental health problems after his work in his unit.

Mr. Lakanwal then applied for asylum in 2024. His request was granted earlier this year, apparently after Trump returned to power.

But Mr. Lakanwal’s green card application, linked to the granting of asylum, is pending, a Homeland Security official told CBS.

The suspect was arrested after the attack and is reportedly not cooperating with authorities. Trump called the incident an “act of terror.”

He said the next day that one of the two National Guard members shot had died.

Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old from West Virginia, was working in the city as part of Trump’s deployment of National Guard members to fight crime.

She had volunteered to work in Washington DC during the US Thanksgiving holiday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

The second National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was said by Trump to be “fighting for his life.”

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