In a Thanksgiving Day social media post, President Donald Trump said he plans to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries,” tying the pledge to his broader push to remake U.S. immigration policy after a shooting near the White House. The post quickly drew alarm from immigrant communities and legal experts who noted that “Third World” is not a legal category and that a blanket halt would face steep constitutional and international law challenges.
What Trump SaidIn the message, Trump argued that current immigration policy has “eroded” living conditions in the United States and said a permanent pause on migration from what he called “Third World Countries” is needed to “allow the U.S. system to fully recover. He also vowed to:
- “Terminate” what he described as “millions” of Biden‑era “illegal admissions,” including those he claims were approved by “Biden’s Autopen.”
- Remove anyone he considers “not a net asset to the United States” or “incapable of loving our Country.”
- End federal benefits and subsidies for non‑citizens, denaturalize migrants he says undermine “domestic tranquility,” and deport foreign nationals deemed a public charge, security risk or “non‑compatible with Western Civilization.”
- Pursue “reverse migration” to reduce the number of people already in the country through prior admissions he labels illegal.
The post ends with a Thanksgiving greeting “to all, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for,” a line that has been widely shared by supporters and critics.
Context: D.C. Shooting and Immigration Politics
Trump’s statement came one day after two National Guard members were shot near the White House in downtown Washington. Authorities have identified the suspect as an Afghan national; investigators are still examining his immigration history and motive. According to the New York Times and other media outlets, it is reported that the White House and Trump allies are using the incident to argue that Biden‑era vetting and humanitarian parole programs are too lax and must be rolled back.
The president has previously backed temporary travel bans and enhanced vetting from specific countries, but this is the first time he has publicly called for a permanent halt on migration framed around the broad label of “Third World Countries.”
So far, neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security has released a detailed policy document specifying which countries would be covered or how such a pause would be implemented. Any formal order would almost certainly face court challenges similar to, or more intense than, the litigation over Trump’s earlier travel bans.
The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal said Thursday that Afghan nationals “shouldn’t be blamed for the violent act of one man. Collective punishment of all Afghans in the U.S. won’t make America safer and it might embitter more against the United States”
Reactions From Advocates and Analysts
Immigrant advocacy groups and civil‑rights organizations responded within hours, calling the language dehumanizing and warning that a sweeping restriction based on broad geopolitical categories would likely violate U.S. law and treaty obligations. They also noted that the term “Third World” is widely viewed as outdated and stigmatizing, and that many people targeted by such a policy already live, work, or study lawfully in the United States, including in the Washington region.
Legal scholars quoted in national coverage said that revoking large numbers of lawful admissions or citizenships and ending all federal benefits for non‑citizens would collide with due‑process protections, anti‑discrimination rules, and long‑standing asylum and refugee statutes. At the same time, some of Trump’s supporters and aligned commentators praised the announcement as a tough response to the shooting and to broader concerns around border security and vetting.
What It Means for the DMV’s Immigrant Communities
The Washington metropolitan area is home to large African, Caribbean, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian diaspora communities—many from countries that could fall under Trump’s “Third World” label.
Local service providers say public statements like this can generate fear and confusion even before any formal policy changes occur, especially among mixed‑status families and recent arrivals who rely on clear information to navigate work, school, and legal processes.
For residents in the DMV, the key facts for now are: Trump’s message outlines his desired direction but does not by itself change immigration law or individual status; no official list of affected countries or implementation timeline has been released; and any attempt to enact a permanent, categorical pause would likely be contested in court.
TANTV NEWS will continue to track how this proposal develops and how it may affect local immigrant and diaspora communities in the region.
