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President Trump used the Thanksgiving holiday to blast immigration. Singling out Somali communities while also taking shots at several of his political rivals, Trump used his anti-immigrant rhetoric to justify a series of sweeping new policies to restrict immigration and to remove immigrants already in the United States, including those already granted citizenship.
Trump targets Somalis, ‘third world countries’ for new immigration, removal policies
In a long post on social media, Trump wished “a very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World, for being ‘Politically Correct,’ and just plain STUPID, when it comes to Immigration.”
Trump claimed, without evidence, that most of the tens of millions of immigrants in the country “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.” He singled out the population of Somali immigrants in Minnesota, making inflammatory claims that “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey,’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone.”
Trump also attacked two of that state’s most prominent Democrats with ableist and Islamophobic rhetoric, criticizing “The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz,” and the worst “Congressman/woman” in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally” Based on these xenophobic ideas, Trump announced that a sweeping new immigration policy. “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,” Trump said. He further stated that his administration would “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
Trump continues harsh, xenophobic immigration rhetoric and policies
Trump’s sweeping immigration announcements came one day after an Afghan national granted asylum in the United States allegedly shot and critically wounded two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.; Trump announced Thursday that one of the injured guard members, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her injuries. Trump has blamed President Biden for allowing the alleged gunman to enter the United States in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and deflected criticism that it was the Trump administration that granted the man’s asylum claim earlier this year. After the shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced “Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
Trump’s new immigration announcements also build on the aggressive immigration policy he has implemented during his first term and escalated after he returned to the White House. The administration continues to launch aggressive raids across the country using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol Enforcement, as well as federal troops, often targeting Democratic or Black-led cities. Trump has also implemented a new version of his signature travel ban, excluding people from a dozen mostly majority-Black and/or majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. And Trump and those around him have explicitly singled out particular immigrant communities in the past, such as the racist fearmongering surrounding Haitian immigrants during the 2024 presidential campaign and subsequent removal of temporary protected status for 500,000 Haitians in the U.S. And Trump has threatened to remove citizenship from naturalized immigrants and attempted to restrict birthright citizenship in defiance of the Constitution.
It is unclear when and how the Trump administration will begin implementing these new, harsh immigration policies. There are likely to be legal challenges to his authority to take such drastic measures as have been proposed, such as removing citizenship from immigrants who have already been naturalized. But given the administration’s track record, it seems likely that Trump will attempt to put in place all the aggressive anti-immigration policies he has proposed.
