US President Donald Trump has announced a ‘permanent pause’ on all migration from what he termed ‘Third World Countries.’ The decision follows a deadly shooting near the White House that left one National Guard member dead and another critically injured.
The announcement came hours after US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow revealed orders for a comprehensive audit of every green card held by individuals from 19 designated ‘countries of concern.’ The nations that were mentioned in President Trump’s June 2025 executive proclamation aimed at curbing terrorism risks are Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Haiti, Venezuela, Myanmar, Chad, Libya, and others primarily in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The review will scrutinize factors such as the reliability of home-country identity documents and the depth of prior background checks, with potential outcomes ranging from status revocations to deportations for those deemed insufficiently vetted.
Mr. Trump framed the measures as a direct response to Wednesday’s ambush-style attack on two National Guard members outside the White House, in which 20-year-old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was killed and 24-year-old Private Andrew Wolfe critically wounded.
The suspect, 32-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who had resettled in the US in 2021 under the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program, was granted asylum in April 2025. Authorities described the incident as a stark illustration of ‘lax vetting’ from the previous administration, with Mr. Trump vowing in his post to ‘terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions’ and expel anyone ‘not a net asset to the United States.’
Defining ‘Third World’
At the heart of the controversy lies the president’s use of ‘Third World Countries,’ a phrase rooted in Cold War-era classifications of non-aligned, developing nations.
President Trump provided no explicit list, leaving immigration experts and diplomats scrambling to interpret its reach.
The 19 countries under green card scrutiny offer a clue. All are classified by the United Nations as least developed or low-income economies, many grappling with conflict or instability. Full travel bans already apply to 12 of them – Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, while partial restrictions cover seven more, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
USCIS has suspended all new Afghan applications indefinitely, citing heightened risks. Yet the broader ‘pause’ raised alarms about its potential expansion. Could it encompass family reunifications, student visas, or temporary worker programs? White House officials have not clarified, but the administration’s history suggests a wide net.
Democratic lawmakers and human rights groups decried the move as xenophobic overreach. ‘This isn’t security; it’s scapegoating,’ said Sen. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in a floor speech Friday.
Supporters, however, hailed it as overdue accountability.
India on the sidelines: Low direct risk, but shadows linger
For India, the world’s most populous nation and a major US trading partner, the policy poses more questions than immediate threats.
Notably absent from the 19-country list, India’s status as a burgeoning middle-income economy, boasting a $3.9 trillion GDP and robust bilateral ties with Washington, shields it from the targeted green card reviews.
That said, the undefined ‘Third World’ label introduces uncertainty. Broadly interpreted through economic lenses, it could sweep in South Asian neighbors like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, indirectly straining regional migration patterns that benefit Indian expatriates.
More critically, India’s 4.8 million-strong diaspora in the US, the largest and wealthiest immigrant group, relies heavily on employment-based pathways. Indians secure about 75% of H-1B skilled worker visas annually, fueling Silicon Valley’s innovation engine. Over 1.2 million Indians and dependents languish in green card backlogs, with waits stretching decades in EB-2 and EB-3 categories due to per-country caps.
President Trump’s separate H-1B reforms, including a $100,000 fee hike for new applications effective September 2025 and stricter wage thresholds, already compounded these delays, pushing professionals toward alternatives like EB-1A ‘extraordinary ability’ visas. Immigration attorneys report a 56% surge in such petitions in early 2025, as workers seek employer-independent routes amid fears of lottery overhauls or sponsorship revocations.
While direct green card restrictions seem unlikely for Indians, the policy’s chilling effect is already palpable. Reports indicate heightened scrutiny at ports of entry for H-1B and green card holders, with some canceling family trips to India over re-entry anxieties. Students on OPT programs, numbering nearly 69,000 Indians, are worried about transitions to work visas under tighter rules.