President Donald Trump has announced sweeping immigration measures, including a full halt on migration from what he termed “Third World Countries” and a broad review of green cards held by immigrants from 19 nations, citing national security concerns after a deadly shooting near the White House.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, 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.”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has since halted all Afghan immigration case processing and announced a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of green card holders from 19 countries, according to USCIS Director Joseph Edlow.

Why It Matters
The measures follow the fatal shooting of National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and the critical wounding of Andrew Wolfe, 24, in an attack in Washington, D.C., that authorities say was carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan immigrant who arrived in the U.S. under a resettlement program created after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Lakanwal, the 29-year-old suspect, was granted asylum in 2025 after arriving through “Operation Allies Welcome,” a Biden-era program designed to resettle Afghans who had worked alongside U.S. forces.

What To Know

The 19 countries identified include Afghanistan, 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.

“Effective immediately, I am issuing new policy guidance that authorizes USCIS officers to consider country-specific factors as significant negative factors when reviewing immigration requests,” Edlow said in a post on X, adding: “American lives come first.”

When asked which countries Edlow was referring to, USCIS highlighted a June proclamation by the White House restricting entry to the United States for nationals of 19 countries, citing concerns about deficient vetting and information sharing, as well as the inability of these governments to provide reliable data on their citizens. The Trump administration argues that the Biden White House misused refugee and asylum pathways during a period of record migration, particularly along the southern border.

As part of its broader immigration shift, the administration has sharply reduced refugee admissions, capping the annual total at around 7,500. In its most recent memo outlining refugee policy for fiscal year 2026, reviewed by Reuters, the administration calls for reexamining—and potentially reinterviewing—about 233,000 refugees admitted between 2021 and 2025 amid concerns that earlier vetting prioritized speed over security.

Refugee status could be revoked for individuals found not to meet statutory requirements, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, roughly 3.3 million green card holders in the U.S. are from the 19 targeted countries. The largest groups include more than 1 million from Cuba, 700,000 from Haiti, 500,000 from Venezuela, and 400,000 from Iran. While some arrived as refugees, others were granted residency through different pathways.

What People Are Saying
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek on Thursday: “The Trump Administration is also reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden Administration, which failed to vet these applicants on a massive scale.”

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote on X: “Coming to America and receiving a visa or green card is a privilege. Our laws and values must be respected. If you advocate for violence, endorse or support terrorist activity, or encourage others to do so, you are no longer eligible to stay in the U.S.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote on X: “Trump makes the outrageous claim that “most” immigrants, which include over 25 million U.S. citizens, “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels. As insulting as the “deplorables” comment, and on Thanksgiving day no less.”

What Happens Next
The White House has not provided a detailed explanation of how the migration pause or the reviews will be carried out, and legal challenges appear likely.

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