Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, has advocated for a new travel ban on visitors from an unspecified number of countries following the shooting death in Washington DC of a national guard member by an Afghan national.
Noem posted to X her proposal on Monday night after she said she had spoken with Donald Trump, whose first term travel ban on seven Muslim countries faced widespread criticism and followed a rocky legal path before it was eventually upheld by the supreme court.
“I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” Noem wrote.
“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom – not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to Americans.
“We don’t want them. Not one.”
It was not immediately clear which countries she was referring to, or how such a ban would be implemented. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the Guardian in a short statement Tuesday: “We will be announcing the list soon.”
Noem’s rhetoric echoes that of Trump following last week’s attack on two national guard members in Washington DC, which killed one and left the other with serious injuries.
The day following the attack the president said he would “permanently pause migration from all third world countries”, and on Friday the state department said it had stopped issuing visas for anyone with an Afghan passport.
The suspect in the shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was among tens of thousands of Afghanistan citizens resettled in 2021 in a Biden-era program that followed a chaotic US military withdrawal, and was granted asylum in April this year under the Trump administration.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared on Fox News on Monday night and said Trump endorsed Noem’s call.
“Several months ago he announced a travel ban on 19 third-world and failed state countries around the world. Secretary Noem announced tonight she is recommending that travel ban widen and cover more countries around the globe,” she said.
“Coming to the US is a privilege, it is not a right. If you abuse that privilege, and if you don’t align with the values of the US, and you don’t respect our country, our culture, our laws, and our people you are not welcome here.”
Trump’s latest immigration crackdown announced last week includes “a review of all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration”, although the DHS did not clarify if it applied to only Afghanistan or all countries.
In June, the Trump administration enacted a full travel ban on visitors from 12 countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, with partial restrictions for seven more. It is facing a number of legal challenges from immigration advocacy and civil rights groups.
His 2017 travel ban, which was imposed haphazardly and caused chaos at airports, went through several revisions before it was ultimately upheld in a 5-4 ruling by supreme court justices the following year.
