• President announces sweeping immigration restrictions in late-night post
• Administration orders review of green cards from 19 countries of concern
• Civil rights groups and U.N. agencies express concern over policy scope

PALM BEACH, FL (TDR) — President Donald Trump announced late Thursday he will “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” in a Truth Social post that followed the death of a National Guard member shot near the White House by an Afghan national.

The declaration represents an escalation of the administration’s immigration restrictions and came hours after Trump confirmed Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from injuries sustained in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, D.C.

President Trump said his administration will work to permanently pause migration from all Third world countries, to allow the US system to fully recover. pic.twitter.com/hPKxoBy7uf

— Gozie (@DonatusEC) November 28, 2025

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Policy details remain unclear

Trump did not specify which nations would be affected by the pause or provide implementation details. When asked for clarification, the Department of Homeland Security referred reporters to 19 countries listed in a June presidential proclamation restricting entry from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” Trump wrote. He also stated he would “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country.”

Additional measures announced

The president outlined several other policy goals in the post, including ending federal benefits for noncitizens and pursuing what he termed “reverse migration.” He also stated he would denaturalize migrants who “undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

“These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations. Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow announced Thursday that Trump ordered a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” The agency had already suspended processing of all immigration requests for Afghan nationals on Wednesday night.

Legal and advocacy responses

Immigration policy experts noted that Trump’s proposals would likely face court challenges. During his first term, Trump’s travel ban targeting majority-Muslim countries was contested in courts before the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in its favor in 2018.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement Friday expressing concern about the policy’s scope.

“Using this horrific attack as an excuse to smear and punish every Afghan, every refugee, or every immigrant rips at something very basic in our Constitution and many faiths: the idea that guilt is personal, not inherited or collective.”

U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence stated at a Geneva press briefing that asylum seekers “are entitled to protection under international law, and that should be given due process.”

Shooting context

The policy announcement followed the identification of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, as the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting of two National Guard members. Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that resettled approximately 76,000 Afghan nationals. He was granted asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration.

The Alliance of Afghan Communities in the United States condemned the shooting while expressing concern about broader implications. “A single individual’s crime must not jeopardize or obstruct the legal cases of thousands of deserving Afghans who meet all U.S. legal requirements,” the organization stated.

Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, the second Guard member shot, remains in critical condition.

What criteria should policymakers use when determining immigration restrictions following security incidents?

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