Donald Trump has said he will “permanently pause migration” to the US from all “third world countries“.
The US president wrote in a Truth Social post that this would “allow the US system to fully recover” from policies that had eroded the “gains and living conditions” of many americans.He did not provide details of his plan or name which countries might be affected.
His comments came a day after an Afghan national was accused of shooting two members of the National Guard in Washington DC, one of whom has died. Trump suggested the incident underlined a major national security threat.
The president’s subsequent announcements represent a further toughening of his stan
Trump Calls for End to Immigration After DC Shooting
Donald Trump has called for an end to all immigration into the united States following a shooting in Washington DC that left two people injured.
The former president made the call on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday, stating that the country “must be closed to immigration”.
“We don’t want anyone coming in,” Trump wrote. “Close the borders!”
The shooting took place near the Navy Yard on Friday afternoon. Police have identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who arrived in the US in 2021.
Trump’s comments echo similar rhetoric he used during his presidency, particularly regarding border security and immigration policy.
Immigration advocates have criticised trump’s response, arguing that it is a harmful and divisive reaction to a tragic event.
“It is indeed deeply irresponsible to use a violent incident to push a xenophobic agenda,” said David McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Newsday program before Trump’s latest comments, Mr McKinney highlighted that the attacker’s motive was not known. “These types of issues – they don’t no skin color,they don’t know nationality,” he said. “When a person becomes radicalised or is suffering some type of mental illness, that person can come from any background.”
Suspect in DC shooting is Afghan
The flurry of announcements come after officials said that the suspect in Washington DC shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US in 2021.
Mr Lakanwal travelled under a programme that offered special immigration protections to Afghans who had worked with US forces in the wake of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
At the time, the Taliban had taken back control of Afghanistan, raising fears of retribution against those who had co-operated with the US. Mr Lakanwal once worked alongside the CIA, the agency’s current director has said.
Mr Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and his request was granted earlier this year, an official told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
He was arrested after the attack and was said to be not co-operating with authorities.
Trump styled the attack as an “act of terror”.
He said the following day that one of the two members of the National Guard