WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to “stop migration for good” from poorer countries and vows to try to deport millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status. He blames immigrants for problems from crime to the housing shortage as part of America’s “social dysfunction” and calls for “REVERSE MIGRATION.”
His most strident anti-immigration social media post since he returned to the Oval Office in January came after Wednesday’s shooting of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital on his orders. One has died and the other is in critical condition.
A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan is facing charges. The suspect came to the US as part of a resettlement program for those who had helped US troops after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump’s threat to halt immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants.
Since the shooting, not far from the White House, administration officials have pledged to re-examine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post Thursday night, the Republican president said millions of people born outside the US now living in the country bear much of the blame for America’s societal ills.
“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, happy thanksgiving to everyone except those who hate, steal, kill and destroy everything America stands for – You won’t be here long!”
Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration, and his administration’s raids and deportations have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools were frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous, as foreign-born American workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The president told Truth Social that the “majority” of foreign-born US residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs or drug cartels,” while blaming them for crimes across the country, which are mostly committed by American citizens.
There are approximately 50 million foreign-born residents in the US, and several studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than people who were born in the country.
The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of the academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology.
“With few exceptions, both aggregate and individual-level studies demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency in US neighborhoods and cities,” it said.
A study by economists, originally published in 2023, found that immigrants are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than the U.S.-born. Immigrants have been incarcerated at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to previous research that undermines Trump’s claims.
Trump appeared to have little interest in a political debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid-response social media account, called “one of the most important messages President Trump has ever released.”
He pledged to “end” the millions of admissions to the country made during the tenure of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for non-U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility,” and deport foreign nationals deemed “incompatible with Western civilization.”
Trump claimed that Somali immigrants are “completely taking over the once great state of Minnesota” as he used an outdated slur for people with intellectual disabilities to disparage the state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year.
On Wednesday night, Trump called for the re-investigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum extent possible.”
Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the US by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access to seven others, citing national security concerns.
The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to spark Trump’s anger toward immigrants, but he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition.
The suspect, currently in custody, was also shot and had injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the US
“No, but we’ve had a lot of trouble with the Afghans,” the president said.