Trump says plans to 'permanently pause' migration from 'third world countries'
Iran Press TV
Friday, 28 November 2025 11:02 AM
US President Donald Trump says he plans to "permanently pause migration from all third world countries," in what he claimed was aimed at allowing the American system to fully recover from flawed immigration policies in the wake of a fatal National Guard shooting.
Making the announcement on social media platform Truth Social late on Thursday, Trump also said he will end all federal benefits and subsidies to "noncitizens," adding that he will "denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization."
The US president claimed that the decision would "allow the US system to fully recover" from immigration policies that had eroded the "gains and living conditions" of many Americans.
The Trump administration also announced on Thursday that it will re-examine green cards issued to individuals who immigrated to the US from 19 countries.
Head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Joseph Edlow, said Trump had directed him to conduct "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, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration's reckless resettlement policies," he said.
Edlow's statement did not specify which countries were considered countries of concern, but USCIS pointed to a travel ban Trump imposed in June on citizens of 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Iran and Somalia.
Trump's comments came following the death of a National Guard member on Wednesday after being shot near the White House in an ambush that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national.
The 29-year-old suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US in 2021 under a program that offered special immigration protections to Afghans in the wake of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Afghan refugees who supported US occupation forces during the 20‑year invasion (2001-2021) have been largely barred from entering the United States since Trump's return to office.
The US evacuated tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan in 2021 following an irresponsible withdrawal.
More than 85,000 Afghans were ultimately resettled in the United States under Operation Allies Welcome, many of them first housed on military bases while undergoing processing.
A portion qualified for Special Immigrant Visas, offered to those employed by the US government, such as interpreters facing possible retaliation from the Taliban.
Other evacuees sought asylum or applied for family-based visas, while many received temporary protections, including humanitarian parole or temporary protected status, which do not provide a direct pathway to permanent residency.
A number of majority-Muslim countries also faced a travel ban during Trump's first presidency.
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