US President Donald Trump has said he will permanently halt immigration from third world countries after a National Guard officer was killed and wounded in an attack near the White House.
Reuters reported that the president’s comments signaled a tougher immigration crackdown after Wednesday’s shooting, which officials said was carried out by an Afghan citizen who came to the United States under a resettlement program in 2021.
US President Donald Trump did not name any country or clarify what he meant by ‘Third World countries’ or what the nature of the ‘permanent suspension’ would be. He said that the move would also apply to cases approved under the Biden administration.
On his social media platform ‘Truth Social’, Trump said that he would stop immigration from all third world countries to restore the US system, end all illegal Biden-era approvals, even if they were signed by autopen, and deport all people who are not an asset to America.
Trump said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies for nonimmigrants, revoke the citizenship of immigrants who disrupt domestic peace, and deport aliens deemed a public burden, security risk or incompatible with Western civilization.The White House and US immigration officials did not immediately comment.
Before Trump’s comments, 20-year-old National Guard member Sarah Backstrom died of her injuries on Thursday, while her companion, 24-year-old Andrew Wolf, remains in critical condition.
Earlier, Homeland Security officials said Trump had ordered a broad review of refugee cases approved during the Biden era and green cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
According to US government documents made available to Reuters, the alleged attacker, Rehmanullah Lakhanwal, 29, was granted asylum under the Trump administration this year, officials said.
He came to the U.S. in 2021 under a resettlement program established by Biden after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August.
Earlier, President Trump claimed in a separate statement that millions of people entered the US without screening during the horrific air evacuation from Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services indefinitely suspended the processing of all immigration applications involving Afghan nationals.
Trump made it clear that his administration’s goal is to significantly reduce illegal and disruptive populations, and he indicated that steps will be taken to that end.
He said that ‘only reverse migration can be a complete solution to this situation’.
Although Luckenvale was in the country legally, the incident reinforces Trump’s immigration agenda, a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration that has been a top priority of his presidency, and the case gives him an opportunity to expand the debate on stricter vetting of immigrants beyond the legal realm.
Trump has already deployed additional immigration officers in major US cities to help increase the number of people being deported to record levels, including long-term residents and people with no criminal records.
More than two-thirds of the nearly 53,000 people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no criminal convictions as of Nov. 15, according to ICE data.
