The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kristy Noem, is recommending that the U.S. sharply increase the number of countries whose citizens are subject to bans or restrictions on entry to the U.S.
In a post on the social media platform X, Noem called for “a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”
The statement followed the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers by an Afghan former soldier who worked with U.S. Special Forces during the war against the Taliban and Al Qaida, and later emigrated to the U.S.
Afghanistan was among the nations whose citizens were banned from the U.S. by President Donald Trump this summer, along with Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump also partially suspended travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Noem did not name the additional nations she proposed banning, but some officials estimated that the list could increase to a total of 30 or 32 countries, CNN reported.
Trump’s policies affect both people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. and those seeking green cards.
Todd Pomerleau, an immigration lawyer at Rubin Pomerleau in Boston, told the Washington Post that under the policy, “just being born in another country now puts you under the microscope of aggressive immigration and customs enforcement.”
“After the tragic shooting of two members of the West Virginia National Guard in D.C. last week, the Trump administration has taken this opportunity to further escalate its rhetoric against immigrants from countries it deems undesirable,” the American Immigration Council said in a press statement. “But as is so often the case with this administration, the disgusting and dehumanizing rhetoric both reflects and obscures a radical policy agenda.
“Since early last week—even before the National Guard shooting—the administration has rolled out a series of policies that call into question the futures of hundreds of thousands of people who have been living legally in the United States for years,” the statement added.
“Not only has the Trump administration put processing on hold for several groups of people and categories of immigration applications and petitions—including a hold on all asylum approvals, and a hold on all application approvals for anyone from one of the 19 countries covered in the travel ban the administration issued this spring—but it has opened the door to potentially reopen cases the government has already approved over the last four-and-a-half years; or even further in the past.”
ABC News reported that all scheduled naturalization ceremonies for individuals from Venezuela, Iran and Afghanistan have also been cancelled. Administration officials said the move was necessary to further screen applicants and ensure they pose no threat to the U.S.
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