Trump vows to freeze “Third World’ migration after Washington attack

‘Reverse migration’ the only solution, he says after death of National Guard member

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nald Trump said on Nov 27 that his administration will “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World countries” following the death of a National Guard member in an attack near the White House.

The comments mark a further escalation of migration measures Mr Trump has ordered since the shooting on Nov 26 that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the US in 2021 under a resettlement programme.

Mr Trump did not identify any country by name, or explain what he meant by Third World countries, or “permanently pause”. He said the plan would include cases approved under former president Joe Biden’s administration.

“1 will permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States,” he said on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Mr Trump said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies to “non-citizens”, adding he will “de-naturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity”, and deport any foreign national deemed a public charge, security risk or “non-compatible with Western civilisation”.

White House and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

UN agencies appealed to Washington to continue allowing asylum seekers access to the country and to be given due process. “We expect all countries, including the United States, to honour their commitments under the 1953 Refugee Convention,” Mr Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary general, told Reuters.