(TNND) — On Thanksgiving Day, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce a push to “permanently pause migration” from poorer countries, unleashing a late-night post filled with anti-immigrant language and a slur targeting Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz.
The message arrived less than 24 hours after two National Guard members — deployed to Washington, D.C., under Trump’s direction, as part of the administration’s crime crackdown — were shot near the White House. One of the guardsmen died on Thursday, just before Trump delivered holiday remarks to U.S. troops via video.
Prosecutors have charged a 29-year-old Afghan national in the attack. The man, who previously worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, was resettled in the United States through a program created for Afghans who assisted American forces.
Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!
Trump also asserted on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels,” tying them to crime in America.
However, according to the Associated Press, research contradicts that narrative. A comprehensive review in last year’s Annual Review of Criminology concluded that the idea immigration drives crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” noting that “with few exceptions” higher immigrant populations are not linked to more criminal activity at any level of analysis.
Another study, released in 2023 by a team of economists, found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born individuals — a trend consistent for roughly 150 years.
The president’s attention, however, remained focused on political targets. In his extended Thanksgiving post — which the White House’s rapid-response account described as “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump” — he claimed Somali immigrants are “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” and used a slur to attack Walz, describing him as “seriously retarded.”
Since the shooting, Trump has sharpened his demands, including a call on Wednesday for the government to reinvestigate all Afghan refugees who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration.
A day later, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency would expand vetting for people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.” He did not identify which nations are included. The administration in June had already blocked travel from 12 countries and imposed tighter restrictions on seven more, citing national security concerns.