Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is requesting a travel ban to be placed on as many as 32 nations that send criminal immigrants to the U.S., Fox News reported. The announcement came on Monday following a meeting with President Donald Trump after two National Guard members were shot last week.
"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 in a post to X on Monday.
"Our forefathers 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. WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE," Noem concluded.
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.
Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign…
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) December 1, 2025
The inciting incident involved a shooting that occurred on the day before Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement officials believe that two West Virginia National Guard troops, who were placed there as part of Trump's crackdown on crime in the nation's capital, were allegedly shot by Afghan immigrant Rahmanullah Lakanwal, The Hill reported.
U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her wounds on Nov. 28, while U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is in serious condition. Following the shooting, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) put an indefinite halt to immigration applications from Afghans.
This followed a June memo that restricted migration from 19 nations, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. "During my first Administration, I restricted the entry of foreign nationals into the United States, which successfully prevented national security threats from reaching our borders and which the Supreme Court upheld," Trump said in the memo issued June 4.
The president recalled that in a memo on the first day of his second term, he "stated that it is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes," Trump continued. He said the government would now be "vigilant" that visas would not be issued to aliens who "intend to harm Americans or our national interests" going forward.
He and Noem had compiled a list of nations that were sending immigrants who did not align with American values. "Many of these countries have also taken advantage of the United States in their exploitation of our visa system and their historic failure to accept back their removable nationals," Trump wrote. The total list of countries now banned hovers around 32, CNN reported.
Any time Trump has spoken of measures to prevent such crimes, he has received pushback from the left about it. Democrats. Rather than being outraged that people coming into the U.S. are committing crimes against people, they are worried that keeping them out of the country is the real problem.
According to the UK Guardian, this was the same reaction the first time Trump announced his plan that detractors called "reckless" and "racist" in June. Meanwhile, Trump has said that the decision was made with "foreign policy, national security, and counter-terrorism goals" in mind.
"Trump’s reckless first term travel ban all over again," California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said at the time. "Just like before, Trump’s expanded ban on travelers from around the world will not improve our national security and will only further isolate the US from the rest of the world," Schiff claimed.
"Bigotry is not a national security strategy," he added. This has never been about bigotry and instead has been about keeping out people from adversarial nations and places where it's difficult to find information on newcomers.
America has enough crime and criminals without importing more from other nations. The left has never come up with another solution except to push for more of the same, and it's time that Republicans take the lead to prevent this from happening.
