The attack on members of the United States National Guard last Wednesday led President Donald Trump to take stricter measures in relation to his immigration policy, as the person accused of killing an agent and leaving another in a serious condition was an illegal Afghan immigrant.
In a first step, shortly after the armed attack, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service announced the immediate suspension of all immigration requests from Afghan citizens, the same nationality as the shooter who acted near the White House.
The day after, the White House leader announced that he will indefinitely suspend immigration from “Third World countries.” Brazil is not initially on the list, according to the Department of Homeland Security in contact with the Reuters.
In a message on Thanksgiving Day, celebrated this Thursday, Trump once again criticized the immigration policies implemented by his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, considering them “the main cause of the country’s social dysfunction.”
“The official foreign-born population of the United States is 53 million people (according to the census), the majority of whom receive social assistance, come from countries in crisis or live in prisons, psychiatric institutions, gangs or drug cartels,” said the Republican president.
The director of the Citizenship and Immigration Service, Joseph B. Edlow, reported that, by order of the President, a rigorous and large-scale review of all permanent residence visas of all foreigners originating from countries of “concern” was ordered.
Although authorities have not specified the countries that will be affected by the measure, in June, Trump banned twelve nations from entering the United States in order to protect “national security.” They are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The president also restricted entry from seven other countries, including Cuba and Venezuela.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has called the arrival of illegal immigrants the “greatest national security threat” to the United States today. He mobilized agents at the borders with Mexico and suspended several programs implemented by the Democratic administration, which caused a migration crisis in recent years.
The recent episode of violence in Washington, now against public officials, will give even more impetus to the Republican president’s plans to restrict the arrival of foreigners in the country.
The actions that are still being analyzed in the courts, including the use of the National Guard in violent cities in the United States, may have new favorable effects for the federal government, after some courts decided to suspend the measure.
A federal judge even allowed the Trump administration to file appeals against her decision by December 11, in order to change its understanding of the deployment. The government then cited the recent attack in its court documents. Furthermore, the Supreme Court is analyzing the federal mobilization in Chicago, which could also affect the calculations of the Republican administration.
Since January, Trump and his team have promised to deport tens of millions of foreigners who are illegally staying in the country. So far, Washington has prepared dozens of deportation flights, increased the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in American cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles and signed an executive order to suspend the refugee program in the United States.
The recent attack committed by an irregular immigrant paves the way for the expansion of a stricter policy that was already being applied by the White House.
