Image source, Reuters
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- author, Yang Tian and James Fitzgerald
- Author title, BBC News
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US President Donald Trump threatened to intensify his campaign against foreigners in the country, pledging to “permanently stop immigration” from all “third world countries.”
In a social media post, Trump also criticized the “burden that refugees place” on his country.
Trump did not provide further details or mention which countries might be affected. This plan may face legal challenges and has already sparked reactions from UN agencies. But the executive order will represent a hardening of his stance toward immigrants during his second presidential term.
Among other measures, the Trump administration is implementing mass deportations of immigrants who entered the United States illegally, sharply reducing the annual number of refugee admissions and ending automatic citizenship rights that currently apply to almost anyone born in the United States.
In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, Trump vowed to expel any foreigner from the United States “from any country that doesn’t fit here.”
On the same day, the United States suspended the processing of all immigration applications from Afghans, claiming that the decision had been made pending a review of “security and control protocols.”
19 countries in the spotlight
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday that it will re-examine green cards issued to people who immigrated to the United States from 19 countries. The agency did not explicitly mention Wednesday’s attack.
When the BBC asked USCIS which countries were on the list, the agency pointed to a White House announcement in June that included Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela. No further details were provided about what the re-examination will look like.
Trump’s powerful post Thursday night went further, promising to “end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-citizens.”
The president claimed that this would “enable the American system to fully recover” from policies that had eroded “the benefits and standards of living” of many Americans.
Image source, Reuters
“Third world countries”
In the post, the president also blamed refugees for causing “social dysfunction in America” and promised to expel “anyone who is not a net asset” to the United States.
The post on Truth Social, which Trump described as a “Happy Thanksgiving greeting,” was filled with anti-immigrant messages.
The president claimed that “hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia have completely taken over the once-great state of Minnesota” and specifically targeted the state’s Democratic lawmakers.
“I will permanently stop immigration from all third world countries to allow the American system to fully recover,” Trump wrote.
“Third World” is a term used in the past to describe poorer and developing countries. The White House and USCIS have not yet provided further details about the plan.
The president had already imposed a travel ban to the United States on citizens of Afghanistan and 11 other countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, earlier this year. Another travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries was imposed during his first administration.
The United Nations responded to Trump’s words by urging his government to respect international agreements related to asylum seekers.
“We hope that all countries, including the United States, will fulfill their obligations under the 1953 Refugee Convention,” the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General told the agency. Reuters.
Image source, Getty Images
For Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Trump’s attack amounts to “blaming” all immigrants in the United States for what happened in Washington, D.C.
McKinney stressed that the attacker’s motives are unknown. “This type of issue does not understand skin color or nationality,” he said. “When someone becomes radicalized or suffers from some type of mental illness, that person can come from any background.”
Trump’s wave of announcements comes after authorities reported that Washington, D.C., shooting suspect Rahmanullah Lakkanwal had arrived in the United States in 2021.
Lakanwal arrived in the country under a program that provides special immigration protection to Afghans who worked with US forces after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Since the attack, information has emerged about Lakhanwal working with the Americans. At some point, he cooperated with the CIA, according to the current CIA director.
He also helped protect US forces at Kabul airport as they tried to escape Afghanistan before the Taliban seized power, a former military commander who served alongside him told the BBC.
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