Trump orders sweeping green card review, vows halt to ‘Third World’ migration

US President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to “permanently pause migration” from what he calls “Third World countries” and ordered an intensive review of green cards held by immigrants from 19 nations, after a National Guard soldier was killed in a shooting near the White House involving an Afghan asylum recipient.

In a late-night Thanksgiving post on Truth Social, Trump said US immigration policy had “eroded” the gains of technological progress and promised to halt migration from all “Third World Countries” to “allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

He also pledged to terminate admissions he links to the earlier Biden administration, cut off federal benefits and subsidies for non-citizens, denaturalize migrants who “undermine domestic tranquility,” and deport foreign nationals he deems public charges, security risks or “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

Trump did not spell out which nations he considers “Third World,” a term often used loosely for poorer or developing states. So far, concrete policy steps have been tied instead to a narrower group of 19 “countries of concern” previously identified in a June presidential order and now at the center of the green-card review.

The political shift follows a shooting on Wednesday, 26 November, when two West Virginia National Guard members were attacked while on patrol near the Farragut West Metro station in downtown Washington, a short distance from the White House.

The victims were identified as Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, who later died of her injuries, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, who remains in critical condition.

Investigators have named the suspect as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal. He entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the resettlement program for Afghans who worked with US forces, applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted it earlier this year.

US and European media, citing officials, report that he previously served in a CIA-backed Afghan special-operations unit and had been living in Bellingham, Washington, before driving across the country to Washington, DC.

Authorities said he used a .357 revolver in what they describe as a targeted, ambush-style attack. The FBI is treating the case as a possible act of terrorism.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it had indefinitely stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals.

Trump called the shooting an “act of terror” and blamed what he described as rushed vetting during the 2021 Afghan evacuation.

A day later, the administration widened its response. USCIS director Joseph B. Edlow said that, at Trump’s direction, the agency would carry out a “full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

A green card is the document that proves lawful permanent residency, allowing a non-citizen to live and work in the US indefinitely and, in many cases, later apply for citizenship.

USCIS guidance released after the attack said officers are now authorized to treat nationality-based, “country-specific factors” as significant negative elements when deciding immigration benefits.

Applications from 19 countries will “particularly be on the immigration officials’ radar”: Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

While Trump has publicly called for reassessment of “every single alien” in the US, USCIS’s written policy is narrower. According to the agency’s explanation, the new rules apply to requests pending or filed on or after 27 November, rather than automatically reopening every existing case.

At the same time, the administration has signaled broader moves, including a reassessment of asylum approvals during Joe Biden’s presidency and a review of refugee admissions since 2021.

The scale and practical impact of the green-card review remain unclear. Officials have not said how many people will be affected, how long the process will take, or in what circumstances lawful permanent residents from the 19 countries could ultimately face attempts to revoke their status.

Refugee advocates and human-rights groups warn the response risks turning a single attack into justification for sweeping measures against entire communities.

Organizations working with Afghan evacuees say fear has surged among people who fled the Taliban and already went through extensive checks.

“They’re terrified,” said Shawn VanDiver, who leads the #AfghanEvac coalition, arguing that one man’s actions “cannot be allowed to define, burden, or endanger entire communities who had no part in this tragedy,” according to comments reported by US media.

Advocates said the new posture could result in years of uncertainty, added background checks and slower naturalization for affected nationals, and in some cases efforts to strip green card status for issues that might previously have been considered minor or resolved.

They argued that long-term residents who have lived, worked and paid taxes in the US should not see their status reopened without clear evidence of wrongdoing.

Supporters of the clampdown, including Trump allies and critics of the 2021 airlift from Kabul, counter that the Washington shooting shows earlier safeguards were inadequate.

Republican lawmakers had already been pressing for tighter screening, citing watchdog reports on gaps in how Afghan evacuees were handled.

Meanwhile, authorities have not publicly detailed Lakanwal’s motive, beyond saying they are examining possible links to terrorism.

Prosecutors have filed initial firearms and assault charges, with the possibility of upgraded counts after Beckstrom’s death, but the full charging documents have not yet been released.

For green-card holders from the 19 named countries, and for Afghans waiting in Pakistan and elsewhere for resettlement decisions, the shift has turned what was already a long process of migration and integration into a fresh source of uncertainty about whether their place in the US remains secure.