President Donald Trump vowed to “permanently” pause all migration from “third world countries” in a screed posted to his Truth Social account late Thursday. The vague threat, made in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, is certain to be met with legal challenges if effectuated.
“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover,” the post read. It went on to say that the Trump administration would “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals who are “a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.” The post did not specify which countries Trump intends to target or what purported ailment the United States needs to “recover” from.
During the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security has promoted white nationalist rhetoric while carrying out the president’s crackdown on immigrants.
The announcement came as Trump and his allies seek to use Wednesday’s shooting to advance the MAGA movement’s anti-immigrant agenda. The suspect in custody for the shootings — which killed West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom — has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. The other National Guard member shot, Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition.
Trump announced Beckstrom’s death Thursday in comments laced with criticism of the immigration system. As Reuters reported Thursday, Trump and other administration officials “blamed Biden-era vetting failures for the admission of an Afghan immigrant suspected of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., but the alleged gunman was granted asylum this year under President Donald Trump.”
It’s notable that during the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security has promoted white nationalist rhetoric while carrying out the president’s crackdown on immigrants. In his social media post Thursday night, Trump wrote: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”
As CNN reported last month, Nazis and other white nationalist types have embraced the term “remigration” to promote their belief that immigrants should be returned to their nations of origin, with some even using the term as a rallying cry for ethnic cleansing.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.