Trump Pauses Migration from ‘3rd World’ Countries

President Trump said late Thursday that he intends to “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World Countries,” to allow the US to “fully recover” in a Thanksgiving Truth Social post.

“Even as we have progressed technologically, Immigration Policy has eroded those gains and living conditions for many,” Trump wrote late Thursday night.

“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 added.

Trump also said he intends to end all federal benefits and subsidies for “noncitizens.”

He will additionally “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization,” he wrote in the long post.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!” the post said.

Trump’s comments came following a deadly ambush on two National Guard members near the White House on Wednesday, which investigators say was carried out by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal.

Lakanwal, 29, entered the US in 2021 from Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Biden administration’s withdrawal as part of the “Operation Allies Welcome” program.

The alleged gunman served in the elite NDS-03 counterterrorism unit in Afghanistan, one of at least five paramilitary “Zero Units” that worked with the CIA, according to the group AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by American veterans helping resettle Afghan allies in the US, but not Lakanwal.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed Lakanwal worked with the intelligence agency. His service to the US helped him get admittance.

Lakanwal had applied for asylum in December 2024 and later got approval under the Trump administration in April of this year.

In the 24 hours since the shooting — which killed West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and left Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, critically wounded — the Trump administration has pursued radical, sweeping immigration provisions.

There will be a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of every green card holder from countries “of concern” in response to Wednesday’s shooting, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow claimed on X.

Edlow wrote that Trump had requested the gargantuan review, which is expected to encompass green card holders from at least 19 countries.

The Trump administration also announced on Wednesday that it was immediately suspending “processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals” indefinitely pending review of vetting protocols.

Update

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday night that it is seeking to pause 2.2 million pending asylum cases.

The announcement follows the Trump administration launching a review of more than 720,000 current green-card holders from 19 “countries of concern”

DHS data tracks new annual green-card grants by nationality, allowing for a rough calculation of the population most likely under review.

Of the more than 720,000 people with lawful permanent residency from the 19 countries who gained status between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, the largest number are from Cuba (335,186), Afghanistan (123,017), Venezuela (73,900), Haiti (49,900) and Iran (35,853).

War-torn nations with current or historical links to terrorism are well-represented, including Yemen (25,457 green cards issued in the past five years), Sudan (12,218), Somalia (6,669) and Libya (2,228).

Others on the green-card review list include Burma (17,126), Burundi (6,323), Chad (838), the Republic of the Congo (2,704), Equatorial Guinea (196), Eritrea (8,094), Laos (2,762), Sierra Leone (7,220), Togo (7,914) and Turkmenistan (2,620).