Segun Atanda/
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to “permanently pause” migration from “Third World Countries” following a deadly shooting near the White House that claimed the life of a National Guard member.
The declaration, made on Thursday via his Truth Social platform, represents a sharp escalation of the immigration measures ordered since the attack on Wednesday.
Investigators have identified the suspect as an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 under a resettlement programme established after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump did not name any specific countries or clarify what criteria would be used to define “Third World Countries”. He said the proposed suspension would also affect cases approved under the administration of former president Joe Biden.
“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, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States,” he wrote.
The president further announced plans to end federal benefits and subsidies for non-citizens.
He said his administration would seek to “denaturalise migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity” and deport foreign nationals deemed a public charge, a security risk or “non-compatible with Western civilisation”.
Trump’s remarks followed the death on Thursday of National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who was killed in the ambush. A second Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was seriously injured and was “fighting for his life”, according to the president.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security earlier confirmed that Trump had ordered a broad review of asylum cases approved under the previous administration, as well as Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries.
The alleged gunman, identified by officials as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum earlier this year under Trump, according to a U.S. government file seen by Reuters.
He entered the United States through a resettlement scheme created after the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 and the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
In a separate post prior to announcing the migration pause, Trump claimed that hundreds of thousands of people had entered the United States “totally unvetted and unchecked” during what he described as the “horrendous” Afghan airlift.
On Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted the processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.
Trump also renewed his call for what he described as “reverse migration”, arguing that only large-scale removals could significantly reduce what he termed “illegal and disruptive populations”.
Although Lakanwal was in the country legally, the incident has reinforced Trump’s hardline immigration agenda. His administration has intensified efforts to curb both legal and illegal migration, deploying additional immigration officers to major U.S. cities in pursuit of record deportation levels.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics, more than two-thirds of the roughly 53,000 people arrested and detained as of November 15 had no criminal convictions, including many long-term residents.
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