The Trump administration is taking swift and sweeping action to halt “Third World” immigration, pledging to pause migration from 19 countries of concern and reverse Biden-era admissions.
Following news of Wednesday’s deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., which killed a 20-year-old National Guard member from West Virginia, many top Trump officials spent the long holiday weekend working or posting on social media.
President Donald Trump issued several of his own Truth Social posts to announce unprecedented restrictions on immigrants and refugees who entered the country through various humanitarian and parole programs.
Among his “reverse migration” plan, Trump said would stop allowing immigrants from nations he labels “Third World.”
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”
The 19 countries identified as “high risk” by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump was asked “How long does your Administration plan to pause asylum?” He responded: “A long time. We don’t want those people. We have enough problems… You know why we don’t want them? Because many of them are NO GOOD and they should NOT be in our country.”
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared on NBC’s “Meet The Press” over the weekend to explain the new mandates.
“We are putting an end to idiotic policies that allowed millions of illegal aliens and hundreds of thousands of foreigners into our country unvetted,” Noem shared in a statement on social media Sunday.
Under President Trump, we are putting the American people, our safety and national security FIRST.
We are putting an end to idiotic policies that allowed millions of illegal aliens and hundreds of thousands of foreigners into our country unvetted.
We are pausing asylum… pic.twitter.com/6dYuMuIwe1
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) November 30, 2025
DHS is pausing asylum decisions until further notice, and the department will oversee a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from all 19 high-risk countries of concern.”
DHS also shared an update on its X account, with DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noting in another news clip that the vetting for Operation Allies Welcome was “paper thin.”
ASYLUM OVERHAUL.@POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem are putting an end to the idiotic policies that allowed millions of illegal aliens and hundreds of thousands of foreigners into our country unvetted.@TriciaOhio pic.twitter.com/bdjG7SrRph
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 1, 2025
McLaughlin said the Biden administration didn’t conduct thorough background checks using biometric vetting, criminal screenings, cyber and social media vetting or cross checks for financial crimes and fraud.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have completely overhauled this process to make sure we’re diving in deep and seeing who are the people who are actually entering this country,” McLaughlin said.
During Trump’s Thanksgiving Day Truth Social posts, he pledged a permanent halt to immigration from the 19 countries. He said he would revoke what he claimed were “millions” of Biden-era admissions and remove foreign nationals he deems public charges, security risks, or “non-compatible with Western Civilization,” Fox News Digital reported.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow also backed up Trump’s announcement with his own social media insights.
“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. American safety is non-negotiable,” Edlow wrote on Thanksgiving Day.
On Friday, Edlow noted that the asylum decisions would be suspended “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
“The safety of the American people always comes first,” he wrote on X.
USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible. The safety of the American people always comes first.
— USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow (@USCISJoe) November 28, 2025
USCIS officials plan to reexamine green cards issued to immigrants from every “country of concern,” including Afghanistan. USCIS has also established new national security measures to be considered while vetting immigrants from high-risk countries, Edlow said.
It remains to be seen if Trump’s latest restrictions are legal or will be met with legal action. The crackdown comes after an Afghan national opened fire on two National Guard members, including one who died from her injuries, in Washington, D.C.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died after the shooting on Wednesday as the nation prepared to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. A second service member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was hospitalized in critical condition.
The gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, reportedly left his family in Washington state and drove across the country to target National Guard members working in the nation’s capital under the order of President Trump.
Lakanwal, who was admitted into the United States in 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, faces multiple charges, including one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
Lakanwal worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War and applied for asylum during the Biden administration. It was granted earlier this year under Trump.
In response to the attack, DHS has stopped all immigration requests from Afghanistan and plans to review all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration.
Additionally, the Department of State issued an alert on Friday saying it would pause issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports.
Trump, who seems to enjoy late-night posts on his Truth Social platform, maintains that the U.S. immigration system has been overwhelmed. He said halting immigration from select countries as well as asylum claims would allow it to “fully recover.”
Trump also has vowed to end federal benefits for noncitizens, denaturalize migrants accused of undermining “domestic tranquility,” and expand deportations.
On Nov. 21, Edlow issued a memo that the USCIS will conduct a comprehensive review and re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.
The review applies to nearly 230,000 refugees who entered under Biden, due to the Biden administration’s lax immigration policies and rules and widespread reports of fraud.
Under a Jan. 20 executive order, Trump suspended the refugee resettlement program when he took office as part of his crackdown on legal and illegal immigration. But the order was met with a lawsuit, so Trump officials capped entries for fiscal year 2026 at 7,500 for mostly white South Africans, which marks a record-low since the program began, Reuters reported.
Trump officials have blasted Biden and his administration for allowing millions of unvetted migrants and other immigrant groups to flood the United States through both illegal and legal immigration, particularly with the CBP One app, Temporary Protected Status, refugee and humanitarian parole programs.
