(The Guardian)- Donald Trump has said he will “permanently pause migration from all third world countries” a day after two national guard members were shot in Washington DC in an attack that has become a political flashpoint in the president’s ongoing crackdown on immigration.
In a social media post beginning with “a very happy Thanksgiving”, sent after 11pm on Thursday, the US president said his administration would “end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens” and remove “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States”.
It is not clear how the president would enact such a “pause” in migration. Previous bans issued by his administration have faced challenges in the courts and in Congress.
Earlier in the night, Trump announced the death of Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two national guard members shot in the attack close to the White House on Wednesday. Authorities suspect the shooting was carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the US in September 2021 under a Biden-era programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands from Afghanistan after the chaotic US withdrawal from the country.
He was granted asylum in April this year, under the Trump administration, Reuters reported, and on Thursday the CIA confirmed he worked with military units backed by the agency during the US war in Afghanistan.
Lakanwal was injured in the attack and remains in custody. US authorities said he would be charged with first-degree murder. A second national guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is still fighting for his life, according to the president.
On Friday evening, the US state department said it had “immediately” paused issuing visas for anyone traveling on an Afghan passport.
The president’s late-night post appeared to mark an escalation in the anti-migrant policies of his second term, which has been dominated by a campaign of mass deportations.
Trump’s announcement comes after recent moves to cancel temporary protected status (TPS) designations to countries including Venezuela, Haiti, Somalia and Afghanistan. The removal of TPS status could revoke legal protections, employment authorization and benefits to immigrants from those nations.
The administration claims the system for granting temporary safe haven to foreigners from countries facing an armed conflict, an environmental disaster or other emergencies, was widely abused by the Biden administration.
“This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.),” Trump claimed in his post.
The hate- and insult-filled screed posted to the president’s Truth Social account did not identify the countries he intended to target or explain what he meant by “third-world”, but instead used blistering anti-immigrant rhetoric to blame issues such high crime and America’s rising deficit on the presence of migrants and refugees, without evidence.
The US Department of Homeland Security on Friday referred Reuters to the 19 countries listed in a travel ban when asked about the “third world” countries.
In his post, the president singled out Somali communities in Minnesota, after last week promising to end temporary protected status for people from Somalia in the state.
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed the shooting in Washington DC “reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country”.
In the 24 hours after the shooting, the president and members of his administration announced sweeping immigration reforms. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced processing of immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals was indefinitely suspended pending further review.
Later, the Department of Homeland Security said the administration was expanding that to include a review of all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration. The department did not clarify whether it was reviewing all asylum cases from only Afghanistan or from other countries, as well.
The USCIS director, Joseph Edlow, said in a statement he was also directing a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern”, at Trump’s request.
Edlow’s statement did not specify which countries were considered countries of concern. USCIS pointed at a travel ban Trump imposed in June on citizens of 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Laos, Togo, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, and Turkmenistan.
A travel ban issued in 2017 during Trump’s first term was widely criticised and faced legal and popular resistance when Trump tried to impose it immediately after taking office. The policy was retooled by the White House after protracted courtroom fights, but rescinded by Joe Biden in 2021.
National guard troops have been positioned across Washington DC since August, when the Trump administration declared a “crime emergency” and ordered them in to support federal and local law enforcement.
Soon after the shooting on Wednesday, Trump said he would send 500 more national guard troops to Washington DC.
A federal judge last week ordered an end to the national guard deployment but also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the Trump administration time to either remove the troops or appeal.
