Noem Urges Full Travel Ban as Trump Intensifies Immigration Crackdown

By Blessing Nweke

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday said she has recommended to President Donald Trump that the administration impose a “full travel ban” on countries she claims are “flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” marking the administration’s most sweeping proposed immigration restriction to date.

“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 on X, adding that America’s founders “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.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately clarify which countries might be included in such a ban or whether formal guidance was being prepared. Trump shared Noem’s post on Truth Social but offered no additional comment.

The proposal comes as the administration tightens immigration policies following last week’s shooting of two National Guard members on patrol in Washington, D.C. One died and the second remains in critical condition. DHS identified the suspect as an Afghan national who entered the U.S. legally in September 2021 after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In remarks after the attack, Trump called for a sweeping review of “every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden” and said the government must remove “any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.” The next day, he said he planned to “permanently pause” all immigration from what he labeled “third world countries.”

The travel-ban recommendation follows a series of restrictive policies enacted this year. In June, Trump signed a proclamation barring entry to nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. In October, the administration lowered the refugee admissions cap to 7,500 — the lowest in U.S. history — with priority allocations designated for white South Africans, according to a Federal Register notice.