US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called on Monday for a sweeping travel ban targeting what she described as countries “sending killers, leeches and entitlement junkies to the United States,” marking one of the Trump administration’s most hardline immigration proposals to date. The remarks came after her meeting with President Donald Trump, following last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC. Noem wrote on X that America was not built for “foreign invaders” to “slaughter our heroes” or drain taxpayer resources, ending her post in capital letters: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”
Her comments followed a series of dramatic federal actions in response to the attack, which authorities say was carried out by 29-year-old Afghan immigrant Rahmanullah Lakanwal. One service member was killed and another critically injured just blocks from the White House. Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the post-withdrawal resettlement programme for Afghans, and received asylum in April. Noem said investigators now believe he was radicalised after arriving in the US.
The administration has already paused visa issuance for all Afghan passport holders, and immigration officials temporarily halted asylum adjudications while reviewing green cards issued to individuals from 19 “countries of concern.” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that asylum admissions could remain frozen “for a long time,” saying the US “doesn’t want those people.”
Noem has repeatedly argued that Biden-era vetting procedures enabled Lakanwal’s entry into the country. She said that the data used for his asylum process originated during the previous administration but was not properly re-examined before approval, and she maintained that screening procedures have now been tightened.
The proposed travel ban — which would block entry from unspecified countries — would represent one of the broadest restrictions since the Trump administration’s 2017 travel ban. Details of the plan, including which countries would be affected and whether it would require congressional authority, have not yet been released.
