Trump to pause migration from Third World countries

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he will “permanently pause” migration from all “third-world” countries and deport foreign nationals whom he described as a “security risk,” as his administration intensified its immigration crackdown following the killing of a National Guard member by an Afghan national.
The administration also announced a “rigorous” re-examination of all green cards issued to immigrants from “every country of concern.” The new directives follow the fatal shooting of US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and the critical wounding of US Air Force Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, arrived in the United States under the Biden-era ‘Operation Allies Welcome’ programme created for Afghan nationals following the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “Even as we have progressed technologically, Immigration Policy has eroded those gains and living conditions for many. 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, or is incapable of loving our Country.”
He said he would also end all federal benefits and subsidies for noncitizens, “denaturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or incompatible with Western Civilisation.”
Trump said these goals would be aimed at achieving a “major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations,” including those he claimed were admitted through an “unauthorised and illegal Autopen approval process.”
 “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” he wrote, adding: “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for - you won’t be here for long!”
Trump had announced Beckstrom’s death on Thursday during a call with service members marking Thanksgiving. Wolfe remains in critical condition.
In additional posts, Trump harshly criticised US immigration policies and claimed the country’s foreign-born population now stands at “53 million people, most of which are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.” He also claimed migrants with Green Cards earning USD 30,000 receive roughly USD 50,000 in annual benefits - assertions he linked to what he described as “social dysfunction” in the United States.
The President further alleged that refugees from Somalia were “completely taking over” Minnesota, and targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with personal remarks. Trump also posted a photo of Afghan evacuees aboard a US military plane during the 2021 withdrawal, saying they had been brought in “totally unvetted and unchecked.”
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow said he has ordered a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”
“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount,” he said in a post on X. The new guidance applies to requests pending or filed on or after November 27, 2025.
In a statement, USCIS said its updated vetting rules allow “negative, country-specific factors” to be considered for applicants from 19 high-risk countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen. The same countries had already been listed in a travel-ban proclamation Trump issued in June, restricting the entry of both immigrants and non-immigrants.
The agency noted that the guidance follows the administration’s earlier halt to refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and suspension of Afghan entry in its first year in office. “My primary responsibility is to ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” Edlow said.
Edlow added that Wednesday’s shooting “makes it abundantly clear” that the previous administration “spent the last four years dismantling basic vetting and screening standards,” whereas “the Trump administration takes the opposite approach.”
Trump has described the shooting as a “terrorist attack.” When asked about reports that Lakanwal had previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan and had been vetted, Trump responded that the individual “went cuckoo… he went nuts. And that happens too often with these people.