President Donald Trump doubled down on his anti-immigration policies on Nov. 30, saying his administration’s pause on processing of all asylum applications has “no time limit, but it could be a long time.”
“We don’t want those people. We have enough problems,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. “Many of them are no good and they shouldn’t be in our country.”
When asked about who “those people” are, the president said “people from different countries that are not friendly to us and countries that are out of control themselves.” He again referred to “Third World Countries,” a term used to refer to poor and less developed nations.
“I don’t think they are all ‘Third World,’ but in many cases they are ‘Third World.’ They are not good countries. They are crime-ridden countries. They’re countries that don’t do a good job,” Trump said. “We frankly don’t need their people coming into our country telling us what to do.”
Trump has previously vowed to halt migration from all “Third World Countries” following an attack in Washington, DC, that left a member of the West Virginia National Guard dead and another critically injured. The deadly shooting was allegedly carried out by a suspect identified as an Afghan national who entered the U.S. under a Biden-era refugee program in 2021 and was granted asylum in April of this year by the Trump administration.
After the Nov. 26 attack, the Trump administration ordered widespread reviews of immigration policies, including a sweeping reexamination of green cards issued to people from 19 countries considered “high-risk.” Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Nov. 30 that immigration officials would consider deporting people with active asylum cases if it was warranted.
Trump also threatened to possibly denaturalize some U.S. citizens. “If I have the power to do it, I’m not sure that I do, but if I do I would denaturalize, absolutely,” he said.
Trump renews attacks on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar
While talking to reporters, Trump again attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar and referenced her birth country of Somalia, saying “it’s not even a country, because it doesn’t function like a country.” The president has repeatedly singled out Somalia as a country that he considers inadequate for having people immigrate to the U.S.
Trump’s comments come just days after he made a series of anti-immigrant posts on social media on Nov. 27 following the DC shooting. In one post, he claimed that “hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota.”
He also launched criticisms at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Omar, D-Minnesota, referring to Walz as the “R”-word and mocked Omar for being “always wrapped in her swaddling hijab,” USA TODAY previously reported.
For years, Trump has targeted Somalia and Somali immigrants in Minnesota. The state has become a destination for Somali immigrants in recent decades dating back to the 1990s.
On Nov. 21, the president announced that he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota. The program for Somalis was launched by then-President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and grants government protection to eligible foreign-born people who cannot return home safely due to civil war or natural disasters.
Seventeen countries are eligible, but the Trump administration has announced it was terminating designations for several, including Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY; Reuters
