Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she will recommend travel bans on several countries that she says are “inundating” the U.S. with criminal activity.
On social media Monday, Noem said she met with President Donald Trump and decided to propose a “total travel ban on every damn country that has infested our country with murderers, leeches and drug addicts.”
Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) then shared Noem's post on their official social media accounts.
It is unclear which countries will be affected by the proposed travel ban and when it might begin. DHS told the BBC it would announce the list soon.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday night that several months ago Trump announced a travel ban on “Third World and failed states” countries and that Noem's recommendation would be “expanded” to cover more countries.
On June 4, the White House listed 19 countriespredominantly in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, which will face full or partial immigration restrictions.
Noem's comments came a few days later two National Guard members were shot and killed in Washington last Wednesday. Before commenting on the travel ban, Noem wrote on social media that 100,000 Afghan nationals had entered the U.S. under the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program and said DHS would review its vetting process.
Officials identified the suspect in the D.C. shooting as an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of the program, which was designed for local residents who worked with U.S. troops during the U.S.'s 20-year stay in Afghanistan.
The suspect struggled with his mental health after arriving in the US, according to emails last year obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS News.
The Trump administration has stepped up its crackdown on immigration following the shooting that killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and seriously wounded 24-year-old Andrew Wolf. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told reporters on Monday that Mr. Wolf gave nurses a thumbs up, but he remained hospitalized in serious condition.
All decisions on asylum requests were also suspended after the D.C. shooting, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow saying decisions would be suspended “until we can ensure that every alien is screened and screened to the fullest extent possible.”
Edlow also said Trump asked him to review green cards issued to people who migrated to the United States from 19 countries.
On Thursday, Trump himself went even further, threatening to “permanently suspend migration” from all “third world countries.” The phrase “third world” was previously used to describe poor developing countries.
In a Thanksgiving social media post, Trump blamed refugees for causing “social dysfunction in America” and vowed to remove “anyone who is not a net asset” to the United States.
During his second term, Trump sought to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants, reduce the annual number of refugees accepted and end the automatic citizenship rights that currently apply to many people born on U.S. soil.
The Afghan Community Coalition issued a statement after the attack in D.C., expressing sympathy for the victims' families, calling for a “full investigation” and emphasizing that it was the act of one man. The statement also calls on the US government not to delay or suspend the processing of immigration applications to Afghanistan.
“Twenty years of Afghan-American partnership cannot be forgotten,” the coalition said in a statement, referring to the two-decade U.S. effort in 2001 to overthrow the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan and bring security to the country.
The UN has called on the US to comply with international agreements regarding asylum seekers, reports Reuters news agency.
