Trump vows to “permanently pause migration” after guard member dies from DC shooting

• Trump vows to “permanently pause migration from all third world countries.”
• Announcement followed the death of a national guard member shot near the White House.
• USCIS halts Afghan-related immigration processing; DHS expands asylum review.

US President Donald Trump escalated his hard-line immigration agenda on Thursday night, declaring that his administration will “permanently pause migration from all third world countries,” a pledge that surfaced just hours after the death of a national guard member wounded in a shooting near the White House.

The president made the announcement in a late-night post on Truth Social, opening with “a very happy Thanksgiving” before laying out sweeping promises to “end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens” and expel “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.”

The post offered no details on how such a ban would be implemented. Trump’s previous attempts to restrict entry from specific countries have repeatedly collided with legal challenges in federal courts and congressional opposition.

- Deadly attack sparks political fallout -

Earlier in the evening, Trump confirmed the death of Sarah Beckstrom, one of two national guard members shot on Wednesday in an attack authorities say was carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the US in September 2021 under a Biden-era evacuation program following the fall of Kabul.

According to Reuters, Lakanwal was granted asylum in April under the Trump administration. The CIA later acknowledged he had previously worked with US-supported military units during the war in Afghanistan. He survived the shooting and remains in custody, while the second guard member, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, is still in critical condition.

Trump has seized on the attack as evidence supporting his latest crackdown, saying the incident “reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country.”

- New wave of immigration measures -

Within 24 hours of the shooting, the administration began rolling out a slate of new restrictions.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it was halting all immigration processing linked to Afghan nationals pending a comprehensive review.

Later, the Department of Homeland Security said the review would expand to include all asylum cases granted under President Biden, without specifying whether the scope was limited to Afghanistan or extended to other countries.

USCIS director Joseph Edlow added that he had been ordered to begin a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern,” though he did not define which nations fall under that category. The agency referenced Trump’s June travel ban affecting 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Laos, Togo, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, and Turkmenistan.

Trump’s new stance mirrors the travel restrictions he attempted to impose in 2017, a policy that endured years of legal battles before being reshaped and ultimately revoked by President Biden in 2021.

- National guard presence grows -

National guard units have been stationed throughout Washington DC since August, following the administration’s declaration of a “crime emergency.” After Wednesday’s shooting, Trump pledged to deploy an additional 500 troops to the capital.

A federal judge recently ruled that the ongoing national guard deployment must end, but delayed the enforcement of her ruling for 21 days, granting the administration time to either withdraw forces or submit an appeal.