President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration will "permanently pause" migration from all "Third World Countries," following the death of a National Guard member in an attack near the White House.
The comments mark a further escalation of migration measures Trump has ordered since the shooting on Wednesday that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 under a resettlement program.
Trump did not identify any countries by name or explain what he meant by third-world countries or "permanently pause." He said the plan would include cases approved under former President Joe Biden's administration.
"I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. 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," he said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies for "non-citizens", adding he would "denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility" and deport any foreign national deemed a public charge, security risk, or "non-compatible with Western civilization."
White House and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
U.N. agencies appealed to Washington to continue allowing asylum seekers access to the country and to be given due process.
"We expect all countries, including the United States, to honor their commitments under the 1953 Refugee Convention," Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general, told Reuters.
Trump Says Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants Are Unvetted
Trump's remarks followed the death on Thursday of National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who was shot in the ambush. Fellow Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, was "fighting for his life," Trump said.Earlier, officials from the Department of Homeland Security said Trump had ordered a widespread review of asylum cases approved under Biden's administration and Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
The alleged gunman, identified by officials as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States in a resettlement program set up by Biden after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 that led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the country's takeover by the Taliban.
In a separate post prior to his "permanently pause" announcement, Trump said that hundreds of thousands of people poured into the United States totally "unvetted and unchecked" during what he described as the "horrendous" airlift from Afghanistan.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Wednesday stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.