Trump announces plan to permanently halt migration from ‘Third World Countries’

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that his administration would move to permanently pause migration from all so-called “Third World countries”, stating that doing so would give the United States system time to fully recover, according to Reuters. He also stated that the government would end all federal benefits and subsidies for non-citizens residing in the country.

The declaration marks a significant escalation in the administration’s immigration stance and follows a day after two National Guard members were shot near the White House by an Afghan national.

In June 2025, the Trump administration had issued guidance restricting entry into the US for citizens of 19 nations on national security grounds. The list includes Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump stated that he would permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the US system to fully recover, adding that he intended to overturn the “millions” of admissions approved under the Biden administration and remove individuals who, in his view, were not a net asset to the country. He also stated that he would expel any foreign national considered a security risk or incompatible with what he described as Western civilisation.

His remarks, issued in a post that concluded with Thanksgiving greetings to Americans, signalled further intensification of his second-term immigration agenda, which is centred on a sweeping deportation programme. He stated that the administration’s objectives would be pursued with the aim of substantially reducing what he termed illegal and disruptive populations, adding that only reverse migration could fully address the situation.