After the shooting of two US National Guard troops near the White House, allegedly by an Afghan immigrant, President Donald Trump has vowed to end immigration from all "Third World" countries.
His administration has yet to provide a final list of which countries might be affected, but it appears several Muslim-majority nations are being looked at.
Joseph Edlow, head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said his agency would conduct a “rigorous re-examination” of every permanent resident in the US who has come from a “country of concern”, seemingly expanding efforts to deport people with green cards.
Those countries are the 12 listed in a travel ban from earlier this year. Whether the “Third World” nations Mr Trump referred to match that list is not yet clear.
The travel ban imposed in June restricted foreign nationals from 12 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, from entering the US, claiming it was necessary to counter the threat of terrorist attacks and protect the public.
They are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti , Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Another seven countries faced partial restrictions.
Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen are Muslim-majority. Chad is half Christian, half Muslim.
Mr Edlow also said the US would halt all asylum decisions “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible".
The June travel ban reinstated one of the most controversial measures from Mr Trump’s first term, which was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court as “squarely within the scope of presidential authority."
He said he wanted to “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, or is incapable of loving our country … and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk or non-compatible with western civilisation".
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she had spoken to Mr Trump and recommended a full travel ban on "every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."
"WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE," she wrote on X.
Mr Trump appears to be particularly focused on Somalian migrants. Tens of thousands of Somalis live in the Minneapolis-St Paul area in Minnesota, whose Democratic Governor Tim Walz ran alongside Kamala Harris in last year's presidential election. Mr Trump has also attacked Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in Congress.
Mr Trump on Monday reposted a message on Truth Social claiming that Minnesota is being subjected to Somali “colonisation” and that Minneapolis is a “hub for Sharia push and radical recruitment”.
The comments signal a renewed effort to further reduce migration to the US and increase the deportations of legal residents.
The Trump administration has not specified what steps it will next take or whether the President aims to deport significant numbers of people with legal status or even US citizenship by “denaturalising” them.
Several immigrant rights groups issued statements condemning the shutdown of asylum reviews and the halt on immigration from developing countries.
"These policies will endanger vulnerable families fleeing violence, persecution, climate disaster and political instability, destabilise developing countries that rely on safe, lawful migration channels for family reunification and economic survival, and erode America’s moral and legal obligations under international and domestic asylum law," the Miami-based Florida Immigrant Coalition said in a statement.
Afghan migrants
Federal authorities have identified the suspected shooter from last week's attack as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who previously worked with US forces and the CIA before arriving in the US in 2021.
The shooting has intensified scrutiny of the more than 190,000 Afghans admitted to the US since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021.
The Trump administration has sought to blame former president Joe Biden administration, but Mr Lakanwal was granted asylum under Mr Trump after having undergone vetting, including for his work alongside US forces fighting the Taliban.
Advocacy groups have called on Mr Lakanwal to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and without his case negatively impacting other Afghans in the US.
Even before the Washington shooting, Mr Trump had dramatically lowered the refugee cap to just 7,500 people, mostly white South Africans.
The State Department on Monday said all "illegal invaders" must be removed from the US.
Mr Trump has also ended temporary protected status for migrants from several countries, imposed a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas used by high-skilled workers and revoked thousands of visas.
The administration is also planning to review the cases of all refugees resettled under the Biden administration.
